Lofoten Islands Winter 2014 Part 1 – Northern Lights Greetings

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Uttakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014

[This is the first post of a six part series about my travels to Lofoten during February and March 2014.  More will come each week.]

The journeys from California to Lofoten are always long, and I always arrive thinking of the soonest possibility I can lie down flat on a bed, or in this case, the back of my rental car.  I also made the mistake of arriving on the islands on a Saturday, which is never a good idea, as it meant a long wait in Leknes for my bus to Stamsund, where I would pick up my car.  Normally I would hitchhike, but this time I was burdened with ski gear which would no doubt ruin any chance I had of catching a lift.

It was finally the early afternoon when I pulled up to the parking area at Utakleiv beach, folded down the backs seats to the car and crawled into my sleeping bag.  Early afternoon on February 1st while north of the arctic circle means it’s just about dark.  I was soon asleep.

Some hours later the slamming of a car door followed by some somewhat loud voices woke me from my slumber.  It was dark.  I wiped a clear spot from the fogged up windows to see if the stars were out, in which case I would try and stay up a bit longer and wait for Northern Lights.  But upon peaking out the window was a gift even better, Auroras!  A faint green arch hanging over the beach and mountains.  I quickly dressed, prepared myself for the cold, then hopped out of the car and went down to the beach, the lights now getting brighter.

I shot for a while at the beach, but I noticed the stronger parts seemed to be coming from behind the mountains to the left, so I quickly headed back to the car and drove a few km to the beach at Vik, more of less just around the corner from Utakleiv, and giving a much more open view to the western part of the sky.

Barely having reached the beach and put my camera back on the tripod the sky lit up, from the horizon, fully overhead, and then behind me.  Not a bad welcome to Lofoten!

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Uttakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Vik Beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights rise into the sky over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Vik Beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights rise into the sky over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Vik Beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014

Friday Photo #68 – Northern Lights Over Vik

Northern Lights over Vik beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Northern Lights over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014.  22:45

The journeys from California to Lofoten are always long, and I always arrive thinking of the soonest possibility I can lie down flat on a bed, or in this case, the back of my rental car.  I also made the mistake of arriving on the islands on a Saturday, which is never a good idea, as it meant a long wait in Leknes for my bus to Stamsund, where I would pick up my car.

It was early afternoon when I pulled up to the parking area at Utakleiv beach, folded down the backs seats to the car and crawled into my sleeping bag.  I was soon asleep.

Some hours later the slamming of a car door followed by some somewhat loud voices woke me from my slumber.  It was dark.  I wiped a clear spot from the fogged up windows to see if I could see if the stars were out.  Shit, even better, Auroras!  A faint green arch hanging over the beach and mountains.  I quickly dressed, prepared myself for the cold, then hopped out of the car and went down to the beach, the lights now getting brighter.

I shot for a while at the beach, but I noticed the stronger parts seemed to be coming from behind the mountains to the left, so I quickly headed back to the car and drove a few km to the beach at Vik, more of less just around the corner from Utakleiv, and giving a much more open view to the western part of the sky.

Barely have put my camera back on the tripod the sky lit up, from the horizon, fully overhead, and then behind me.  Even at 15mm, this image only captures part of the overall scene.  Not a bad way to arrive on the islands!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 1250
f 4
30 seconds
WB Daylight

 

Friday Photo #67 – Winter Sunrise

Cod Stockfish hang to dry in cold winter air, Toppøya, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Winter sunrise and empty cod racks, Toppøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 3, 2014.  09:20

My second morning on Lofoten and the wind was screaming in from the south, cold and bitter; I had not quite gotten used to the north yet, having been in t-shirt and shorts just a few days earlier in California.

There was a clear spot on the horizon where the sun should rise, but it was racing a huge rain cloud blowing in across the fjord.  In near perfect unison, they met in a 2 minute flash of light, sky glowing bright orange and pink as heavy drops of rain began falling from the sky.

I was beginning to run for shelter but turned around for one last image, before my camera and lens became completely soaked (it was that super heavy, big drops type of rain).  Not an ideal composition, but about all I could manage given the conditions.  And something different from what I usually seem to photograph.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 250
f 5.6
1/30 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #66 – Lake Agvatnet Winter

Lake Agvatnet in winter, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Patterns of snow on lake Ågvatnet, Å I Lofoten, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 2, 2014.  15:27

I had been following the on Lofoten for the months before my travels at the beginning of February and knew the islands where having a ‘dry’ winter.  This first was evident as I walked the cold, windy streets of Bodø from the airport to a friends house.  Usually it is a perilous and slippery journey along icy sidewalks and streets, yet now I found only blowing circles of dust on the midnight roads.

So it was a surprise for me when I woke up expecting to see the first glow of dawn on the horizon, only to find my car enveloped by swirling snow and the world beyond the reach of my headlamp a deep black.  I drove the winter roads, parked at some beach and waited in darkness until the storm began to pass and black turned to grey before turning to deep blue.

As afternoon arrived I made my way to the end of the road at Å, Normally a good location for winter sunsets.  Waiting for the light to improve I hesitantly wandered out onto the frozen lake Ågvatnet.  A few locals were out and about on their afternoon walks, so I figured it should be fine, and the ice was quite thick.  Still, it makes some interesting noises while you stand out there.

The morning’s snow had blown into some interesting looking patterns, giving a nice contrast to the nearly black ice of the lake.  And in somewhat flat, fading light of late afternoon in February, I searched for some interesting elements.

As much as I like this image, I do feel it a bit imbalanced.  I would have liked to go with a square crop, but that caused me to loose too much of the cloud in the sky, which I think is important to the image.  So I decided on a 4×4 crop, to give a little more space in the sky.  But this leaves the image a bit centred I think, my eye not quite sure where to go first and not as drawn into the scene as I would like.

One of the difficulties of using multiple exposures with a tilt-shift lens to achieve square or panoramic images is that you never can see the overall composition as you are shooting.  I do my best to estimate where the horizon will land one I combine the images and I often shoot a bit extra to give myself room to crop down, either from the top or bottom, but there are times like this where keeping the full image seems to work better.

Do you see an animal in the cloud?

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
45 seconds
WB Daylight
3 images – top, middle, bottom
6 stop B+W neutral density filter

Friday Photo #65 – Northern Lights Over Olstind

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in sky over Olstind mountain peak and fjord near Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Northern Lights shine in sky over Olstind, Valen, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 11, 2014.  23:04

For anyone who as seen the Northern Lights, I don’t think I need to explain why I have a growing fascination with them.  It is almost like a drug, the more I see, the more I want.  In my earlier winter travels to Lofoten, I thought of them as an added bonus to the already spectacular landscape that I was there to photograph.  Now I think of the lights as a key part of any photography tour of the islands, and I begin to grow impatient after too many cloudy nights.

I try and photography the Northern Lights as an element of an overall landscape.  That is to say, I don’t just want the lights themselves, but I want the lights as an element of an overall landscape photograph.  However, living 10,000 km away from Lofoten, and only having precious few weeks on the islands each year, this is easier said than done, and I miss many opportunities in ‘right time, wrong place’ moments.

But always in my mind are a few scenes that I desire to photograph in a particular way.  Northern Lights and Olstind is one of those images.  I have been close to my envisioned image a few times, including this photo, but I don’t think I’ve quite made it yet.

I often think about what it would be like to live in Reine, or anywhere on Lofoten for that matter, and have 180 nights per year to attempt to fulfil my minds images.  Must be magical.  Even if only for a year.  Maybe some day if I’m lucky.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1250
f 4.5
20 seconds
WB Daylight