Friday Photo #380 – Spring Storms

Photo: Storm over coast of Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 8, 2020. 13:06

Last week during one of the big storms I waited for a pause in the rain before walking down to the coast to checkout some of the action. The wind was blowing strongly – and actually blew me over/made me slip in the mud on my way back home. Out at the coast all I could do was sit, as it wasn’t safe to stand – especially for my camera!

This past weekend another big storm arrived, though it was a north wind, blowing the waves onshore, so not really possible to photograph from my area. And even the last days, which now feel almost calm, the wind has been blowing at near gale force. The wind seems endless this year.

I always find it difficult to photograph a stormy sea. When the big wind gusts arrive, everything turns into chaos and any composition I thought I might have had either disappears or just doesn’t look nearly as dramatic as the moment was. Especially shooting from sea level into a mostly grey sky, the scene looses all the contrast of the sea spray blowing off the waves.

In this scene I tried to put the distant mountain (Veggen) into the background for a little contrast to the flat grey sky. But even then, it is mostly just waiting and hoping that the wind gust arrives at the right time with the wave in the right location, etc. Just luck mostly. But even then, it’s also hard to give a sense of scale to such a scene.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 70-200 f/4
78mm
ISO 250
f 5.6
1/1000 seconds
WB Daylight