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Friday Photo #634 – Winter Light

Photo: Soft dawn sunlight shine over Flakstadtind, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 6, 2024. 09:24

Before this moment I had actually been shooting pretty wide in the 14-20mm range with some nice foreground wave action over the rocks along the coastline at Vareid. In that situation, these background mountains are quite far away and small – though there tends to be a lot of ‘creative interpretations’ among many photographers these days. Suddenly, the sky began to glow and a nice light lit the distant mountains.

I would have actually liked to continue shooting wide, but the sky was also beginning to clear from the right side of the scene. Had the clouds continued across the sky, I think it would have been better. But now I was left with a colorful sunset on the left side of the image, and a dull-ish blue sky on the right side of the image. For me, this didn’t feel very balanced. So I changed lenses.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
125mm
ISO 200
f 5.6
1/160 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #633 – Unstad Winter

Photo: Dusting of snow covers rocks at Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 5, 2024. 12:23

Sometimes one doesn’t need to contribute much more to a photograph than being there. This is one of those times: park the van, walk 50 meters, setup camera and tripod, take a photo.

Lofoten has done all the real work…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
35mm
ISO 64
f 10
30 Seconds
WB Daylight
10 Stop Nisi ND Filter

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Friday Photo #632 – Frozen Reinefjord

Photo: Olstind mountain peak rises over a frozen Reinefjord, Toppøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 7, 2024. 10:16

It is not so often that Lofoten is still enough or cold enough for a large portion of Reinefjord to begin to freeze over. From a higher view point, I could see that the surface was frozen well across towards Olstind peak, which rises in the distance.

Luckily my group arrived at the location before anyone else this day, so we had a clean, footprint free, foreground to work with, should it be wanted in the composition. Which in this case I’m not 100% sure about, and also shot a number of images looking for interesting patterns in the frozen fjord as a foreground.

Either way, it is always better to be cautious with a nice fresh layer of snow and not rush too quickly towards the most immediately obvious composition, ruining potentially better compositions you might not have immediately seen. The same applies to beaches, where too many times have I seen people immediately walk into the scene without first doing a bit of study, and walking through better compositions. It is good to slow down and look around a bit. Footprints don’t disappear once there…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
22mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/80 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #631 – Hamnøy Bridge View

Photo: The classic view from Hamnøy bridge, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 20, 2024. 07:30

A moody morning at one of Lofoten’s classic views: the red rorbu cabins from Hamnøy bridge.

While the desire for many photography is for a bright and colorful sunrise, I generally tend to prefer a bit more of a moody shot these days – not like I don’t already have folders full of bright sunny sunrises as well. And while I’ll spend dozens of hours standing here this winter, only a few times will I pull out my camera for photo.

On this morning I liked the misty clouds around the summit of Festhæltinden and the stormy sea in the foreground. This is actually one location in the area that I think works better in a bit of stormy weather. You’re not going to be looking for reflections here anyhow, so a bit of wave action around the rocks is better than a calm sea in my opinion. It is also better around high tide, as otherwise the rocks become too much of a dominant part of the foreground.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
18mm
ISO 64
f 11
6 Seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop Nisi ND filter

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