Line Ørnes Søndergaard

Time to Rest

Every night thousands of people go to sleep in random places along the narrow roads of Norway. Because that’s what the government told them to do.

As Norway is mostly mountains and valleys there is no way we could survive without the trucks getting necessities to the most remote areas of our country. But with strict time regulations and few designated resting spots, the drivers are forced to stop wherever they are located when their driving time is up. As they park for the night, they are no longer the driver moving through the postcard landscapes of Norway. They are now that one person, completely alone inside the walls of their hut. Sometimes it´s a warm one, sometimes cold. But most certainly a lonely one, and a vulnerable one.

I knocked the doors and spent the night with those that sleep alone, trying to show a different side of the Norwegian truckdriver. The private one. During this limited period of time where they don´t drive, but rest.

Line Ørnes Søndergaard

Line Ørnes Søndergaard (b.1986) is a visual storyteller from Oslo, Norway. She got her background from documentary-film and television before turning to photography, completing her BA in photojournalism in 2014. Of today, she is well established as a project and editorial photographer in Scandinavia, working for the largest newspapers in Norway, alongside her personal work. She has won several prizes in Norwegian Picture of The Year, and received international recognition in NPPA, POYI, PDN and CPOY. In 2016 she was selected and attended the World Press Photo´s Joop Swartz Masterclass. In 2017 she was chosen to be part of the Norwegian Journal of Photography, a program supporting 8 independent photographers in Norway.