Friday Photo #38 – Stamsund Autumn Storm

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Dramatic sky over sea, Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Autumn Clouds, Stamsund, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Aug 29, 2013.  19:10

When the winds blow strong, I usually keep my head low and spend my time by the warm fireplace in the Stamsund hostel.  Stamsund was one of the reasons I became so enamored with the Islands in the first place, and despite the fact that I wander around much more than my early journeys (before I could afford to rent a car), I still try and spend a good be of time here.

And it’s not all sitting around and sharing stories with other travelers.  There are a few places out on the coastline beyond the hostel that are pretty reliable and sheltered for when the weather gets bad.  It’s a common sight for me to be heading out the door, tripod in hand, to go scrambling over the rocks and out to the sea whenever a break in the rain occurs.

While the mountains of this scene never change, the sky and the sea often due.  If you compare all the photos I’ve taken over the years from pretty much this exact same, you’ll think each one was taken somewhere else.  On this particular day, heavy, wet clouds were sweeping across the islands.  This spot proved to be the only place where I could get myself out of the wind enough to keep my tripod from shaking while the waves crashed just below my feet.

I experimented with a number of exposure times and this one feels the most dynamic to me.  Any slower and there wasn’t quite enough movement in the clouds and they just appeared out of focus.  Much longer and the clouds lost any texture, and lost the stormy appearance what this day was.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
30 seconds
WB Daylight
6 Stop B+W Neutral Density filter
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #37 – Kvalvika Beach

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Group of people on Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Kvalvika Beach Friends, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Aug 26, 2012.  16:00

While I typically choose to exclude people from my landscapes, sometimes a human element helps make a scene.  I can’t remember exactly what I was doing at the moment, probably wanding around the beach to collect driftwood, when this group of people showed up and caught my eye.  And so I pulled out my camera to see if anything interesting might happen.

I would have preferred the beach to be clear of footprints, but what can you do, other than hiring some models to re-create the scene at low tide.  As the 3 friend sat and chatted for a minute, before one of them went diving into the water, I grabbed a couple quick photos.  Somehow the 3 of them standing there helps show the massive scale of Kvalvika beach, to me the cliffs in this image almost look bigger than they are in real life.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
56mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/160 sec
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #36 – Vikvatnet Thaw

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Mountain reflection of frozen lake Vikvatnet, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Vikvatnet, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 10, 2012.  10:42

This weeks Friday Photo is more illustrative rather than scenic in purpose.  This photo shows that Lofoten is not always a winter wonderland of white snow from sand beach to highest peak.  There is actually a fragile balance between snow and rain that has a rather dramatic effect on the appearance of the landscape, and in turn, what photographic opportunities you will find.  With a fresh layer of snow, most anything is photogenic.  When the snow line retreats up the mountains, the low areas can often look bland and lifeless.

Despite the northern latitude of Lofoten, the winter temperatures remain quite mild.  For several days previous to this photo a southwest wind brought the temperatures above the freezing level, while rain melted away the snow.  Finally reaching a high of 6.2˚C, which might not sound like much, but it was February in the Arctic Circle.  And for another reference, the high temp on June 1st, 2012 was 6.5˚C, while June 1st, 2013 reached a high of 26.3˚C.  What an amazing variation!  Lofoten weather is unpredictable at best, and years seldom seem to repeat themselves.  In fact, the weather almost makes a point of being completely bi-polar year upon year.

When I passed by this scene a few days earlier, the lake had been covered in a nice coating of snow.  On this morning, I passed by once again on my way out to Haukland beach to see if I could find something interesting.  Now, a layer of rain water covered the ice, allowing for a reflection of the mountains.  And in combination with the freeze patterns in the ice, created some interesting texture. The light was a bit flat, but what can you do.  I was glad it had actually stopped raining for a few minutes.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
44mm
ISO 200
f 11
1/20 sec
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #35 – Moonlight Over Eggum

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Full moon shines in night sky above mountain peak, Eggum, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Moonlight over Mustaren, Eggum, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 3, 2012.  17:13

To my dismay, barely any snow covered to lower elevations of the islands upon my arrival at the beginning of February 2012.  This was in quite a contrast to my first real winter experience on the islands in January 2010, where it snowed so much that I got my car stuck several times and had to be pulled out.  I had traveled to the islands imagining what scenes I would find and how I would photograph them, and yet I arrived to something totally different.

The lack of snow left much of the landscape somewhat drab looking, especially in the flat light of my first days on the islands.  And so I found myself looking for new perspectives that I hadn’t though of.  At this point in my previous winter experience, I’d never really seen ice, as it had always been covered in snow before.  And so on my second night while camping out at Eggum I took a little wander.

By evening the the weather had calmed by what had thus far been some pretty blustery weather.  Though Eggum is often one of those places, depending on wind direction, is totally blown out (usually), or sometimes eerily calm, such as this night.  I tried some seascapes, but they weren’t working out particularly well, so I turned around and pointed my camera towards the near full moon just as some clouds began appearing from behind the mountain.

I stood there for a while in the cold and silence, the crashing of waves a few meters behind me the only sound to be heard.  Some minutes later, a pair of otters began wandering around the rock near me, oblivious to my presence; perhaps it was so cold they couldn’t smell me, or I’d only been on the islands for a couple days so I wasn’t too ripe yet.  I’ve seen otters many times on the islands, but this night, in the darkness, was the closest I’ve ever been to them.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 200
f 11
121 seconds
WB Daylight

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