Friday Photo #271- Vik Aurora

, ,

Vik Aurora - Friday Photo #271

Photo: Northern lights over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 4, 2018. 00:25

I posted a similar image to this the other week – Friday Photo #268 – where the moon was directly over the beach. A couple weeks later, and the moon was more or less behind me, and out of the scene.

This night was quite amazing, with the aurora dancing with stunning speed and filling the sky from horizon to horizon! With nearly full moon lighting up the landscape, it was possible to shoot with a relatively fast shutter speed of 2 seconds, which for northern lights is pretty good!

On nights like this, 14mm is simply not wide enough. I want to show what is happening in the sky, yet I also want enough of a foreground to anchor the image and make it a decent composition. So I was shooting foreground and sky images in quick succession – it is important to be fast when the aurora is dancing so quickly, otherwise the reflections might not line up correctly if the aurora has moved between shots.

I wish Lofoten had more snow though, would have been a fantastic image with bright white mountains instead of a somewhat ugly brown on this night…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 2000
f 3.2
2 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #270 – Ice

, ,

Ice - Friday Photo #270

Photo: Ice, Nedreheimredalsvatnet, Eggum, Vestvågøy, Lofoten islands, Norway. March 3, 2018. 17:34

I’m back with another detail shot this week. I originally headed out to Eggum for sunset, but soon the sun disappeared behind some clouds and the golden light was gone. So I headed over to lake Nedreheimredalsvatnet to see what I could find.

It has been a cold winter this year on Lofoten, and the whole of the islands are in a deep freeze – even the lakes in the west, which didn’t freeze at all last year. With only a short amount of daylight this time of year, everything at Eggum in frozen.

The lake can have some nice structures where the rocks crack through. Unfortunately though, I was not the first, and the light dusting of snow had been thoroughly walked through at most of the rock cracks. So I looked for something else.

I am still fascinated with ice, and the patterns that form. Maybe I will photograph a whole abstract series one of these days. Here, I simply liked the cracks with a light filling of snow to bring out some contrast. I knew that I would like this image as a 1:1, so I put on my 24mm tilt-shift lens and pointed the camera straight down, shifting the lens between shots.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 160
f 6.7
.3 second
WB Daylight
3 images – top, middle, bottom

/1 Comment/by

Friday Photo #269 – Rope

, ,

Rope - Friday Photo #269

Photo: Mooring rope coiled on pier, Toppøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 18, 2018. 14:59

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll have noticed that I normally don’t shoot too many detail type images. However with a busy tour season this winter, I have been returning again and again to the same areas with my guests – areas that I’ve already been to hundreds of times before as well. So unless there is some spectacular light or particularly unique conditions, I’ve more of less shot all the ‘big views’ already.

So sometimes I look for small details to fill in the gaps between the landscapes; stuff which helps tell the story about life on the islands.

I saw this rope on a previous day or two and and made a mental note that it might look more interesting if there was a bit of snow – the was none when I fist saw it. Luckily, a light snow did fall one evening and I rust randomly happened to be back at the location, so I went and took a look. I initially took another composition, with the mountain Olstind in the background and then went away.

It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that I was back again. The snow had been walked on by that point in time, ruining any wider shots. So I decided to go low, and close. Even with my tripod completely flattened out, it was still too high, so I took my camera off and held it on the ground.

I knew I would likely crop this 1:1, so I used my 24mm tilt-shift lens, shifting vertically, to shoot 3 images. I also knew I wanted a shallow depth of field and to focus just on the front coil of rope. Though I did use some other focal points, such as the pole, but this makes the house in the background too sharp and distracting.

[That was a lot of words about a boring rope on a pole…]

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 4
1/80 second
WB Daylight
3 images – top, middle, bottom

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #268 – Vik Aurora

, ,

Vik Aurora - Friday Photo #268

Photo: Moonlit aurora over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 22, 2018. 22:32

The nighttime sky has been quit active over the last week, with impressive aurora on many nights, though also a quiet night or two. Last night the aurora came out early, before 19:00 with the sky barely even dark and 4 hours later it was still going!

While staying at Haukland for a small private workshop we first headed to Uttalkelv, as we hadn’t yet shot the northern lights there. But soon we figured it would be best to head elsewhere as car after photo tour van after car arrived. To be blunt, Uttakleiv is a total shit show these days, with groups just walking up and setting their tripods right in front of you and shining headlamps all over the place. It is unfortunate, but Lofoten’s popularity has killed the enjoyment of this location for me and I will no longer shoot there during the winter season.

Luckily, there still remains a few more peaceful options, for now, just around the corner. And so we relocated first to Haukland and then to Vik as the night progressed. Normally I like the moon to help illuminate the scene. But the quarter moon of the past few nights just always seemed to be in the wrong position and made getting a nice composition someone difficult.

If the moon was in the side of the frame, then it would pull your eye away from the aurora. Eventually I just figured it was best to put the moon in the middle of the image, and hopefully the aurora would cooperate and form a nice enough shape around it. Which in this image, I think worked out well enough.

As the whole sky was filled with dancing aurora, and you can see by my exposure how bright it was, I needed a wider field of view than just 14mm. So I composed the scene with a lower, foreground image, and an upper, sky image. I could have perhaps cropped to 4:5, but I feel 1:1 works a bit better with this one.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
19mm
ISO 1600
f 3.2
4 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

/2 Comments/by

Friday Photo #267 – Narvtind

, ,

Narvtind Dawn - Friday Photo #267

Photo: Winter dawn over Narvtind, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 23, 2018. 9:39

Sometimes you get lucky. Guiding my first tour of the year in late January, we were actually on our way to a different location when I saw the sky over Narvtind looking like this. So of course I stopped! As a location I have photographed numerous times over the years, it is still a nice scene that can provide some nice light with the right timing.

The light of late January is still quite directional to the south. Which unfortunately, doesn’t actually provide too many compositions for many parts of Lofoten, as the mountains block much of the sun. But a few areas will get some morning light, and this is one of them. But conditions also need to cooperate, with a still wind, so the fjord can have the mountain reflections.

I took a few other compositions this morning, but this still remains the classic view from this location.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
ISO 100
f 11
.3 second
WB Daylight

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #266 – Reine

, ,

Reine Winter - Friday Photo #266

Photo: Olstind rises above the frozen shoreline, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 22, 2018. 09:50

It is not often that I take photos in Reine anymore. But occasionally, and usually when I’m guiding a workshop, I’ll come across some nice conditions in which it’s worth pulling out the camera. After several days in the area this january with an annoying south wind keeping the bay reflection-less, conditions finally calmed.

After some decent snow, and then rain which washed much of it away, it was almost completely dry during the 2nd half of January this year. But the dry conditions also brought a freezing cold to Lofoten, and so even without snow, we had ice.

As the tide receded, the frozen sections of the shoreline waters were left to fall and break across the rocks. Without this element as a foreground, I probably wouldn’t have shot this scene – even though the twilight was nice enough itself! But the this layer of ice helps hide what would be, for me, the overly messy rocks and seaweed. I also shot another composition with just Olstind’s reflection in the water, but I like this version better, as it gives a better sense of place to the image.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
29mm
ISO 100
f 10
.5 second
WB Daylight

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #265 – Ryten Aurora

, ,

Ryten Aurora - Friday Photo #265

Photo: Aurora over Fuglhuken from Ryten, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 2, 2017. 20:03

I’ve already posted another image from this night: Friday Photo #218. So if you read that you already know that I was supposed to have gone skiing with some friends, but saw the aurora forecast and changed my mind at the last moment, eventually making my way up Ryten in the fading twilight.

While the main aurora display was off to the right of this image, it didn’t have the best composition. So after shooting that for a while, I looked for something else. Important tip – never get too focused on the aurora themselves that you forget to move and shoot different compositions. I see this happening a lot when I’m out, people just standing shooting the same image 1000 times. Yes, the aurora moves, but so should you!

So even without the brightest of the aurora, I felt this image had a stronger overall composition, and is something I likely would have photographed if the aurora were replaced with clouds. At 14mm, my lens still wasn’t wide enough to capture enough foreground the anchor the image, while also capturing enough of the sky. So shot two images, one for the foreground and one for the sky – same setting for each image. Later after merging, I cropped to 4:5, which I have become quite fond of over the last years. Perhaps it’s only memories from shooting film on a 4:5 camera back in the day.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 2000
f 3.2
10 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – foreground, sky

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #264 – Winter Sun

, ,

Vindstad Winter Sun - Friday Photo #264

Photo: February sun low on the horizon just after sunrise, Vindstad, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 7, 2017. 09:09

A month after the sun has returned to Lofoten the days are beginning to feel normal and the dark days of the past weeks are quickly forgotten. And while the sun rises higher each day and is quickly approaching the east, there still remains many locations on Lofoten with receive little to no direct sunlight – still in the shadows of the surrounding mountains.

From this location, on the low mountain pass between Vindstad and Bunes beach, early February brings about 45 minutes of sun at sunrise before disappearing behind Reinebringen. Camping out there for several nights, I would begin my mornings on the right side of this image, where the sun would first hit. But soon, the mountain shadows would approach and I’d have to relocate towards the left of the scene, until eventually the sun was gone.

Another week or so later and the sun would have bee sufficiently high to shine on this location for most of the day. Though on Lofoten, there is often a compromise. With the trade off for more hours of sunlight, the sunrise itself will begin to occur too far to the east (left side of the photo), and thus not be visible from this location until the sun was higher in the sky. Always something to think about when choosing a sunrise/set location on the opposite side of the islands with mountains in between.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 200
f 13
1/30 second
WB Daylight

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #263 – April Is Still Winter

, ,

April Is Winter - Friday Photo #263

Photo: April is still winter here – deep snow and strong winds high up on Mengelsdalstind, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 13, 2017. 12:52

I have been receiving a lot of emails lately about ‘spring’ hiking on Lofoten. And by spring, most people are using continental weather as their reference, meaning April and May. Though the nights are no longer fully dark, April is still full winter here in the north. And while the coasts begin to thaw in May, it is still ski season in the higher mountains.

Even in June, snow will still be a dominant factor most years in many of the inland mountain areas – and especially in east Lofoten.

If you are thinking of hiking the mountains here anytime before mid June, then I suggest reading my Winter Hiking article first.

Mengelsdalstind wasn’t the objective of this trip. But first we had to cross the summit of this 826 meter peak, then descend the back side to reach our target peak in an isolated and obscure part of Moskenesøy. After a mostly calm night camped on a narrow snow ledge at Ågskaret, the wind had really picked up this morning as we ascended the narrow ridge through often deep snow. With my backpack 27kg backpack full of climbing gear and 5 days worth of food, it was exhausting work.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 100
f 9
1/800 second
WB Daylight

/0 Comments/by

Friday Photo #262 – First Sun

, ,

First Sun - Friday Photo #262

Photo: First sun of the new year, Offersøykammen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 10, 2018. 11:16

Though the polar night technically finished around January 5/6, weather kept the sun hidden for a few days longer. But finally on Wednesday, with a clear weather forecast, the sun returned to the north!

Still low on the horizon, I was careful to choose a mountain in which I knew it would be visible. Offersøykammen was one of the safer choices, with enough composition options. Unfortunately though, heavy rain on Monday and Tuesday melted away much of the snow which has been covering the islands since Christmas.

Having spent much of November trapped by rockslides at home, It had actually been nearly 2 months since I last saw the sun. It might sound strange, but it was a welcomed sight to see my shadow for the first time since I can remember! I kind of never noticed it missing, but was I was standing on the summit and the first light hit me, I finally remembered.

The wind was blowing cold across the summit. Even so, I just sat there for almost two hours until my toes began to get slightly numb and the sun disappeared behind Skottind.

Thursday provided an even more colorful sunrise, unfortunately I was busy with other things and couldn’t get out. But there are many months of winter left, and plenty more opportunities for cold days in the mountains of Lofoten.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 160
f 11
1/50 second
WB Daylight

/0 Comments/by