Friday Photo #90 – Myrland Beach Sunset

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Scenic Myrland beach, Flakstadoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Myrland beach sunset, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Sept 1, 2013.  20:24

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but Myrland has become one of my favorite beaches in the last couple years.  Perhaps I’ve just become over saturated by the other beaches (as nice as they are) or perhaps I like it because it is still a relatively seldom visited places and I will likely find the sand free of footprints, even on a sunny evening.

Normally I would have tried to pick a more mountainous location for a sunset such as this, but a few days before, I had sprained my ankle while hiking down from Ryten at Kvalvika beach.  So I wasn’t exactly in any position to be hiking up mountains.  And it was trouble enough just getting down to the beach.  Not to mention that I like to stand a little too close to the water, which on this day, meant I had to painfully hobble out of the way of incoming waves at just the last minute.

Perhaps I would have been a little more tolerant of pain were I not planning to begin a hike into Sweden’s Sarek national park just 10 days after this photo, so my ankle needed all the rest it could get.  Though I ended up dropping my camera in a lake just one day into that hike, so my autumn didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3,5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 9.5
1.3 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom
B+W 6 stop neutral density filter

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Friday Photo #89 – Kjerkfjord Sunset

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Sunset behind rugged mountain peaks and Kjerkfjord from Reinebringen peak, Reine, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Setting sun behind Kjerkfjord from the summit of Reinebringen, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 25, 2010.  11:13

For my first hike up Reinebringen I decided to to the most obvious thing one getting to the top; spend the night on the summit.  Well, It can hardly be considered night in late July, but the sun still sets for a couple hours at this point in the year.

Having spent the previous two nights at Bunes beach, at night on Reinebringen wasn’t really in the plan.  But as my friend Søren and I walked off the ferry back in Reine, looking at the clear blue sky and mountains all around, the choice was made for us.

Unfortunately I hadn’t decided to gather any more water while at Bunes, so I had to buy an overprice 0.5 liter bottle from the StatOil station in Reine.  By the time I reached the summit or Reinebringen this had turned into 0.2 litters, with about 18 hours remaining on the mountain.

It perhaps the most absolutely perfect day of the whole summer.  Blue sky, warm temperatures and no wind.  I setup my tent on the summit, not to protect me from the weather, but as the only place to escape from the sun.  The hours passed by and hikers came and went.  Finally as evening began to arrive, we found ourselves alone on the summit.

As evening passed the sun grew low on the horizon.  Sometimes concealed behind peaks before shining for a few more moments, the descent into the sea was underway.  A cloudless sky stood overhead as we sat up there alone, waiting for the end of a Lofoten summer day to slowly arrive.

We camped out in the open, no fear of rain this night.  Several times I tried to go to sleep, only to crawl out of my sleeping bag to take a few more photos; finally giving up on getting properly dressed and just standing there, bare footed and in my underwear.  A night I will always remember.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 200
f 16
1/60 second
WB Daylight
3 images – left, center, right

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Friday Photo #88 – Summer Storm

Ray of light silhouettes stormy mountain landscape, Vestvagoy, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Ray of light shines over Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 1, 2010.  22:12

Despite what you might see in the travel guides, summer on Lofoten is not always blue sky at 20+ degree temperatures.  The summer of 2010 was a particularly cold, stormy one, with only a few days of calm weather.  Weather that I took full advantage of.

These years were still in my ‘backpacking’ days, where I traveled predominately by hitch hiking or bus.  But my friend Søren and I did manage to pay out enough money for a two day car rental at one point during the trip.

The day had been spend exploring the north side of the islands, where the weather had been a bit better, before finally returning to Stamsund.  But as evening progressed, we could see that the light might do something interesting and so we hopped back in the car and headed towards Utakleiv.

Up on Hagskaret, the high pass between Stamsund and Leknes, I saw this light.  I knew we were probably a bit too late to reach any of the beaches so I pulled over and took this photo.  Just a beam of light shining below the heaving clouds.  It rained for the next days.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/200 second
WB Daylight

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Return to Lofoten

Dramatic coastal mountain landscape viewed from Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Summer evening view from the summit of Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2014

I will be on Lofoten now for more of less the whole of September.  Hopefully the weather is as good as the previous two years, as I have put together a pretty long ‘to-do’ list of mountains to hike.  And I have a few mountains I need to hike again, hopefully with some better weather, to add more hiking guides to this website, as it seems there is some new competition out there these days.

If you see someone (me) in an somewhat ugly bright blue jacket, come and say hello.  Or you can try and contact me via FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM if you know you’ll be around…

I want to try and remain on Lofoten as long as possible, especially as the chance for northern lights grows with the ever darkening nights of autumn – the best displays always seem to be the day after I leave, so I suggest scheduling at trip for the beginning of October! 🙂

It will be a long trip down from the north car, and not knowing what the weather may due, I might be forced south a bit earlier than planned.  Plus, this will be my first ever opportunity to visit central Norway by car, and there is a huge list of place I want to see or re-visit from my hitchhiking days of years gone by.

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Friday Photo #87 – Stamsund Sunset

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Rugged rocky coastline and mountain view at Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Pink sunset over Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 22, 2010.  00:51

The year 2010 was my first summer back on Lofoten for four years, having spent my last few trips getting to know the islands in the other seasons.  As usual, my first stop on the islands was the Stamsund hostel, where I had arranged a meeting with a German friend whom I had spent some weeks with during the previous autumn: a fellow Lofoten addict.

Despite the village of Stamsund not being the most interesting place on Lofoten, there is still something of a wild and unspoiled coast just a short distance from the harbor beyond the hostel.  I have stood upon these rocks dozens of times in all sorts of weather.  They are one of those places where I can be sitting inside and eating dinner and then Roar will come knocking at the window, ‘ Come outside, the sky is pink!’

And so I gather my camera and run out across the rocks, sometimes a little slippery if it has been raining, and head towards the sea.

This evening a bitter wind was blowing, but the light was brilliant.  I found a somewhat sheltered spot on the rocks to take this photo, the waves crashing at my feet.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
23mm
ISO 200
f 16
0.3 second
WB Daylight

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