Lofoten in Geo Saison Germany

Scenic village of Reine, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Sunny summer day in Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 2010

For my German speaking friends, there’s an article about Lofoten in the May edition of Geo Saison magazine.  I haven’t seen the article yet myself, but one of my images from Reine is used on the index page for the magazine.

I remember this day well.  My friend Søren and I had been out camping at Bunes beach for a couple days.  After catching the ferry back to Reine, the rest of our group headed back to Stamsund, and we were planning to as well.  But looking at the day, it was too good even for a few hours on a bus! With little food, and almost no water, we set our sights on Reinebringen.  I took this Photo as I walked by, not even sure if I took my backpack off or not. A little while later we were looking back down on this view from the summit of Reinebringen.  The weather stayed so calm that we slept out in the open on the summit and was one of the inspirations for me starting this site.

15-05-GeoSaison-lofoten

Photo: Geo Saison May 2015

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Friday Photo #120 – Lofoten Northern Lights

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Northern Lights, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights over Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2015.  22:16

What had started out as a windy morning had calmed to little more than a light breeze by evening.  In the previous 2 weeks I had photographed some decent aurora displays, but finally on the end at January the moon was bright enough to light up the landscape. Now all I had to do was wait.

I didn’t want to get too comfortable while waiting in the car, but with the cold and the dark, sleep become difficult to avoid.  So I set my alarm to go off every 30 minutes to wake me up for a quick peak outside.  At 21:30, I saw the first hint of green in the sky.

I had parked near Haukland beach, knowing that I can reach a number of good locations within a few minutes to adjust for where the northern lights might appear in the sky.  As luck would have it, they where almost perfectly aligned over Haukland, and so that is where I started a night of shooting.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 2000
f 4
8 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #119 – Bunes Beach Winter Sunrise

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Winter sunrise at bunes beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Spectacular winter sunrise over Bunes Beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 26, 2015.  07:54

My tent was shaking violently in the wind in the early morning hours.  I could sense the lightening sky, but after a late night looking for northern lights, I wasn’t in a hurry to leave my sleeping bag.  But the photographer part of my brain was able to overpower the tired camper part of my brain for just long enough for me to take a peak out the door of my tent.  The sky was on fire!

In the blink of an eye I was dressed and running/slipping across the frozen beach and down to the shore.  On the way I nervously watched the sky, hoping the color would remain until I arrived at the water’s edge.  Luckily it did.

I did’t really worry about the waves washing over my boots as I stood a little close to the tide line to try and get a nice reflection.  The wind was still racing across the beach, lifting up clouds of sand every few moments and requiring me to keep a close eye on my tripod (I had already broken my Fuji XT -1 to wind on this trip).

After a bit of time on the beach, I figured my camera had taken enough abuse for one morning and headed back to camp to pack up and head back to the ferry.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 160
f 9
1/40 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #118 – Ryten Winter Hike

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Ryten Winter Hiking, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Nearing the summit of Ryten in winter, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 31, 2015.  12:33

Having made multiple summer – autumn trips up Ryten over the years, I finally thought it was time to visit the peak in winter.  While mid January had some fantastically calm days which made my job easy as I was guiding a photo tour for Muench Workshops, the month ended with wind.  Lots of wind.

As I pulled the car into the parking area I checked the forecast.  Hmm, not too bad.  But then I turned my head towards the clouds racing across the peaks.  Hmm, not too good.  But I decided to be optimistic and plan for a night camping on the mountain.

Midway up the route, it became evident that it wouldn’t be a fun night in the tent – if it survived!  Climbing up the final long ascent on the route the winds increased even more with almost every step.  Finally, reaching the summit ridge, walking straight became a difficult task and the straps from my camera back whipped me in the face.  I didn’t even bother going to the overlook to Kvalvika beach, as these were not conditions for photography.  And so I headed back to the car…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 200
f 9
1/200 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #117 – Old Farm House

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Old Farm House, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Old farm house in winter, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 18, 2015.  09:12

This is one of those scenes which I’ve driven by dozens of times and always thought I need to stop and take a photo sometime, yet up to this point, never have.  Though there was always something more to this image than exists here.  And so finally on this trip, the image I wanted became available.

In early February 2015, hurricane Ole passed over Lofoten, bringing winds over 100mph and bringing widespread destruction, including collapsed buildings and missing roofs.  Until Ole visited Lofoten, there was an ugly power line running through the field behind the house.  Well, Ole took care of that.

The first time I drove by after Ole I immediately noticed the power line was down, and wondered how long I might have until it was put back up.  But it took more than a week for the right conditions to present themselves for me to do justice to this old house.  I would have liked a bit more snow, but overall, I think the image came out quite nice.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 31
f 16
30seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top/bottom
6 stop B+W ND filter

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