Friday Photo #199 – View Over Bunes Beach

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Friday Photo #199 - View Over Bunes beach

Photo: Panoramic view over Bunes beach and Reine near summit of Storskiva, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 22, 2016. 12:11

After the previous weekend’s failure to reach the summit of Ertenhelltind, last weekend I found myself on the 21:30 ferry from Reine to Vindstad with another mountain in sight. The goal: Storskiva. The iconic peak rising 848 meters above the southern side of Bunes beach.

The autumn has mostly been mild and dry this year, and even mostly cooperative on the weekends when my mountain partners are available. Though no rain was forecast, a shower passed over my house Friday afternoon, giving me a bit of hesitation about the condition our route for Saturday. But as evening came, the radar was clear and so I headed to Reine.

After a cold, windy night camping on the pass above Bunes, we took a leisurely start to the hike. The forecast was for full sun, yet the sky remained somewhat cloudy, but above the summits at least! With the sun low on the horizon at this time of year, Bunes only gets a brief amount of sunlight. With the clouds added in, light was only cast among the surrounding mountains.

A little below the summit we took a shot break and I shot this 12 image pano, handheld – not always time/need for the tripod, even though it was on my backpack. The wind was blowing cold, so we didn’t stop long. Above, the temperatures dropped below freezing and the turf was frozen and slippery, with winter just around the corner. But not before one last snow free summit of the year! And one that I have waited a while for and will surely be back again to watch the magical summer midnight light shine across Bunes and Helvetestind!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 200
f 10
1/320 second
WB Daylight
12 image pano

Friday Photo #198 – Yttersand Beach

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Friday Photo #198 - Yttersand Beach

Photo: Autumn morning over Yttersand beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 18, 2016. 09:31

I had originally planned to camp on the summit of Fuglhuken, yet a late start to the day meant I would not reach the summit before sunset. The weather was cloudier than forecasted, and my main hopes were for a repeat of the northern lights, which had been fantastic on the previous night – when I was a bit lazy after a day of climbing, so stayed low on the beaches.

I thought about just heading back to the car, but since I had already carried my gear up to Ytresandhei, I decided just to stay the night up on the ridge near Røren, just in case anything happened.

At 18:40, I saw the first flicker of aurora in the sky. However, the combination of high clouds and full moon were too strong. Crawling into my sleeping bag to escape the cold, I remained optimistic for the sky to clear, and kept checking until late into the night. Sometime early in the morning a faint aurora glowed overhead, but it wasn’t strong enough, nor was I, for me to enter into the cold.

Dawn brought some nice colors, but the composition was off for my location on the ridge. So when it became evident I wouldn’t shoot much, I packed camp and began the short walk back to the van. It wasn’t until I was almost back at the parking area that I thought this scene looked interesting enough to pull out my camera. The clouds were moving just enough for me use a 10 stop ND filter and and an exposure of 90 seconds to bring a little softness back into the sky to match the feeling of the light.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
28mm
ISO 50
f 13
91 seconds
WB Daylight
10 stop ND filter

Friday Photo #197 – Olstind Rainbow

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Friday Photo #197 - Olstind Rainbow

Photo: Autumn rainbow over Olstind mountain peak, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 2, 2016. 08:44

The beginning of October brought the usual turbulent autumn weather across Lofoten. And with the wind and rain come the rainbows. I often remark, that for a place with so much rain, rainbows are relatively infrequent compared to my experience with similar conditions such as in Scotland. Yet with the autumn rains and the lowering sun, the rainbows seem to grow in frequency.

I was guiding a tour on this particular morning. I was just about to pickup a client from the bridge at Hamnøy, but as I saw the rain approaching, I told him to stay – and where he got an absolutely fantastic photo – while I continued across the bridge and parked on the other side.

By the time I was out of my van, the rain was already falling, blowing right into the direction I needed to shoot. I turned my back to the wind and set my camera up in advance. Turning quickly, I fired off a series of shots as the wide glass of the 14-24 was pelted with rain. Luckily the first few shots were good enough.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
16mm
ISO 125
f 7.1
1/250 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #196 – Tønsåsheia Sunrise

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Friday Photo 196 - Tønsåsheia

Photo: Autumn sunrise from Tønsåsheia, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 23, 2016. 07:13

My tent was shaking in the wind as dawn approached. Having stayed up past midnight in an unsuccessful attempt at northern lights, my 05:30 alarm hit me like a wall; part of me secretly hoping for no light and an excuse to stay in my sleeping bag. But as I unzipped the tent and saw the orange glow on the easter horizon, I knew I couldn’t be lazy. I closed my eyes for another few minutes, then began to get dressed.

It was a cold and windy morning. As the sun neared the horizon I could see clouds begin to form over Stjerntind to the north, the highest peak on Flakstadøy. I went about wandering and shooting across the broad flat plateau of Tønsåshei, trying my best to take shelter from the cold east wind. Soon I noticed the clouds beginning to move lower and lower.

What I thought would be a relatively nice, but somewhat boring sunrise quickly turned into a fantastic show of swirling clouds all around me in the golden light of dawn. Every second different from the previous or the following. It was one of those times where you have to keep shooting the same scene over and over again, afraid to put down the camera.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
130mm
ISO 125
f 8
1/200 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #195 – Ytresand Aurora

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Friday Photo 195 - Northern Lights

Photo: Autumn northern lights over Ytresand beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 27, 2016. 21:12

The forecast called for heavy clouds and a bit of rain, yet as the day faded into night, the sky remained clear. Busy with work, I peaked out the window just to see if anything was happening. Lights!

Hopping into my van, I knew my best shot was to head to Ytresand. Only 5 minutes from my house, it is not only a scenic beach, but also a relatively quiet place compared to the more popular Skagsanden beach – as I was aware of several photo tours on the islands at the moment.

As I arrived and ran down to the water the sky was filled with light. I first set up a time lapse sequence to shoot with my little Fuji, then wandered elsewhere to shoot with my D800. It was high tide, so I couldn’t get the clear reflections I was hoping for the the flat, sand beach. But the aurora was so strong that even the incoming tide took a nice green tone.

It is for nights like this that I moved to Lofoten. Hopefully there are many more in the coming months…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1600
f 3.2
10 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #194 – Summer Sunset

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Friday Photo 194 - Summer Sunset

Photo: July sunset over Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 30, 2016. 23:19

I think the color on this evening will take some time for me to beat! I’ve already posted an image from the same location for Friday Photo 188, but that was taken from my tent, and almost an hour before this image. One of those Lofoten sunsets where the light just keeps on getting better and better as the hours pass; my tired body from a long day in the mountains struggling with my mind which wants to keep shooting. Luckily the photographer in me won on this evening!

The previous evening, while hiking into our mountain camp I had seen the promise of what the light could be from this location. However, having not reached Vindstad until 22:00 on the Friday evening ferry, and a little bit of wandering around trying to find which way to go, meant I missed most compositions before the light had gone, and it wasn’t nearly as colorful as this anyhow. But wanting to hike a bit out of the mountains from our high camp, this location seemed like a good spot.

And it was! From late afternoon till midnight, I hardly had time to put down the camera as the light was constantly changing and there were a million scenes to shoot all within a few minutes of my tent. My total photo count for the day was 1,888 images, which for me is a 4-5 times what I would normally shoot, even on a day that I consider good!

I think I will try and get back here in winter, and see what this location has to offer then.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
19mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/13 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #193 – Vindstad Ferry

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Friday Photo 193 - Vindstad Ferry

Photo: Fjordkyss arrives in Vindstad, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 30, 2016. 16:32

It is now mid September and the long days of summer are already feeling like a distant memory. The green fields and leaves of summer are now taking on the golden tones of autumn and the nights feel like they are becoming oppressively long. Where has the midnight sun gone? Next year I guess.

This image is from an evening camping above Vindstand on the second night of a mountain adventure to one of Lofoten’s rarely visited valleys. The forecast called for rain overnight and in the morning, so we though it best to head a little further out of the mountains to not have such a wet walk in the morning. Turns out the forecast lied, but I won’t complain this time!

I didn’t plan to photograph the ferry, but as I saw it coming across Reinefjord on its second run of the afternoon – the summer crowds at Bunes beach fill the boats beyond capacity, I thought it would possibly make a good photo for the next edition of my Summer ebook. Lucky for me, the sun was also cooperating, with a nice light shining on the foreground, and I actually like that the background mountains are in shadow. Summer on Lofoten…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
20mm
ISO 125
f 8
1/320 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #192 – September Aurora

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Friday Photo 192 - Northern Lights

Photo: Autumn northern lights, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 2, 2016. 23:22

Last Friday was the beginning of the northern lights season for me here on Lofoten. There had been a few displays during the last days of August, but I was always too busy to go out shooting. But as Friday rolled around, with a forecast for calm and clear weather – something a bit rare these last weeks, I knew it would by my chance for the first aurora of the season.

I first started the night at Skagensanden beach, near Ramberg. But as the first aurora began to appear in the sky, I immediately knew I was in the wrong position, with the lights forming behind the beach, in a location that wasn’t very photogenic.

I immediately headed to Ytresand beach, which basically points towards Skagsenden, and the location of the aurora. I missed the first large outburst as I was driving, but I caught some nice lights and shot a time-lapse for about 30 minutes before deciding to move to another location during a dim period.

I had seen the water was calm near the Fredvang bridges as I was initially driving out, and so I headed there to see if I could find anything interesting. Shortly after I arrived and setup my camera, the sky exploded with light! So bright that I over exposed my first shot, not having changed setting from my previous exposures. While I wasn’t completely happy with the foreground, and the small bit of power lines off the the left of the frame (most people would just edit this out probably), the aurora was good enough that I stayed until they calmed down again.

Truthfully, I don’t know anything about KP levels or any of the technical stuff. It seems to be a fascination among some photographers to label their shots KP 6, or whatever. I don’t know or care too much. I just compare what is immediately in front of my eyes to what I’ve stored in my memory. Friday night was a good one. I’m glad I was there to photograph it.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 800
f 4
8 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #191 – Summer Camping

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Friday Photo #191 - Summer Camping

Photo: Sunset camp near the summit of Moldtind, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 19, 2016. 21:22

The weekend saw me making a second, and this time successful, attempt on the rarely visited peak of Støvla, near Sørvågen in the west of Moskenesøy. Not leaving until mid afternoon for the like hike in via Munkebu hut and then off trail with difficult route finding to Moldtind, we arrived after 19:30 and set up camp on the flattest rocks which could be found on the entirely rocky mountain. And of course, nice views were a priority as well, with our tents looking directly over Hermannsdalstind, rising across the valley to the north.

As the sun grew low on the horizon, the late season snow glowed pink, creating a scene that looks more like winter as opposed to the last days of summer. The sky overhead was brilliant, in color that lasted long into the night and provided may more images. I kept high hopes for the possibility of northern lights, but as the midnight darkness arrived, so did the rain, which was my companion until morning. Maybe next time as there are still plenty of tent nights to be had before the winter takes its hold over the islands.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
19mm
ISO 250
f 10
1/60 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #190 – August Twilight

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Friday Photo #190 - August Twilight

Photo: August twilight, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 14, 2016. 03:00

The nights are finally beginning to grow dark here on Lofoten, a sign that the short arctic summer will soon be coming to an end. The streets grow emptier by the day as visitors return to their homes in the south while the mountain birch are beginning to show the first yellow of autumn. Even lady aurora has returned to the late August sky – though I have not managed any images yet – nights seem to be cloudy while I’m in the mountains.

Tired from two long days of hiking, I was awoken from my sleep and told I should come outside. This night was cold as a north wind blew across the mountains, shadows of clouds dancing around the nearby peaks rising beyond our campsite. With sunrise still more than an hour away the northern horizon held the color of dark amber in its struggle to hold on to the light of the ever sinking sun. Soon even this will be gone from the nights…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/10 second
WB Daylight