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

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

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

Friday Photo #116 – Lofoten Coast

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Lofoten Islands Sailing

Photo: Moskenesøy coast, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 31, 2014.  11:24

It was somewhat Ironic, that the first time I find myself on a sailboat off the coast of Lofoten, the weather is so calm that there is no wind for sailing!  I’ve never had so many consecutive calm, sunny days on the Islands as I did when I was aboard the sailboat from late August to early September.

The weather did eventually catch up with us the day after this image, but for a view from the north side of Moskenesøy, I never believed the sea could be so still.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
35mm
ISO 160
f 10
1/500second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #115 – Sailing at Helle

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Sailing Lofoten Islands, NorwaySailing Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Sailboat anchorage at Buvågen bay, Helle, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 31, 2014.  19:18

Sailing to Helle, at the ‘end’ of Lofoten was the highlight of my summer sailing trip with Vertical Shot Expeditions.  Helle has been a place I’ve long wanted to visit, yet never had the means to do so myself.

This was the last day of good weather on the trip, so I made the most of it and wandered around the hillsides taking as many pictures of the boat as I could. Even continuing on into the night when a late summer display of the northern lights filled the sky overhead.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 160
f 14
1/100 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #114 – Lofoten Mountain Panorama

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Moskenesoy Mountain Lanscape, Lofoten Islands

Photo: Twilight mountainpanoramic, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 14, 2014.  19:56

After the light began to fade from the summit of Markan, it was time to descend the narrow ridge back down to camp at Fageråskaret pass.  More than content with the evening, I packed up my gear and prepared for the steep descent in the fading autumn twilight.

Yet, I didn’t make it more than a few meters from the summit before I came across this scene.  I contemplated walking on; the light wasn’t as good as it had been over the previous hours.  But then I though to myself, if this was the only light I had this day, would I take a photo.  Of course.

So I pulled freshly packed gear back out of the bag and re-setup my tripod for one last image of the day…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/4 second
WB Daylight
2 images – left, right

Friday Photo #113 – Reine Cod Racks

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Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Empty cod drying racks, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 3, 2014.  20:19

Some days of stormy weather finally caught up with us during the second week of our sailing trip around Lofoten in the late summer.  Over a particularly grim couple days we moored to boat in Reine.

Most of the time I just hung around on board, the desire to keep dry stronger than the desire to explore Reine by foot, a place I’ve been to numerous times anyhow.  But on the second evening, it seemed as if the rain might hold off for a bit, so I went out with the group for a bit of a wander.

The cod drying racks of Lofoten, wether full of fish in winter, or empty the rest of the year, are always something I find interesting.  This particular set of racks I had never come across before, and was immediately drawn to their shape.

With the fast moving clouds and the fading light, I knew I wanted a long exposure to soften the detail of the sky and bring out the shape of the racks on the barren rocks.  This is one of the ‘dark’ moments of Lofoten that I like to capture.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 11
30 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop ND filter
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #112 – Sailing at Helvete

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Lofoten Islands Northern Lights

Photo: Northern light fill the sky over Lofoten, Henningsvær, Austvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 24, 2014.  23:40

Another Image from my last night of northern lights in September 2014.

What started out as a nice display of auroras, finished with the sky completely full of light!  Even here, at 14mm, my entire frame was filled with light.  And even then, I was still left to look up ever further, with auroras filling nearly every part of the sky.  Probably one of my most memorable nights ever, and a good end to over a month on Lofoten.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1250
f 3.2
15 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #111 – Autumn Northern Lights

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Northern Lights Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Autumn northern lights over the coast of Henningsvær, Austvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 24, 2014.  21:13

My last view of northern lights in what had been an absolutely fantastic month of September 2014;   probably the best month I’ve ever had aurora watching on Lofoten.

I had camped at this spot on a few previous nights, yet the lights had been elusive.  So when they finally showed up for me at this spot, I was more than happy.  Especially so, in that they were early enough in the night to still have some glow on the horizon, which helps the images in autumn when there is no snow on the mountains.

The aurora lasted late into the night, allowing me to also record a nice time lapse sequence to use for a future project…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1600
f 3.5
15 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #110 – Horseid Beach

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Horseid beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Horseid beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 15, 2014.  14:19

The mountain view over Horseid beach has been a long sought after image for me.  And no doubt because this view is the hardest to reach of the three main beaches of Moskenesøy (Bunes, Horseid, and Kvalvika).

Having spent the morning on another peak, I almost forgot that in the shorter days of September that I could wait too far after noon to get to the view point, otherwise the beach would be in shadow.  Luckily, I made it to this view with a bit of time to spare.  By the time I reached the summit of Branntuva, about an hour later, the entire beach was cast in shadow for the remainder of the day.

I made note of a few possible camping places close to this view point, so hopefully I can return with a bit more interesting light one of these days…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/200 second
WB Daylight