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Friday Photo #164 – Winter Mountain Reflection

Winter sunset over mountain of Moskenesøy from Fredvang bridges, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter mountain reflection, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 17, 2015. 13:21

The Fredvang bridges are one of my favorite winter locations as they provide a variety of unobstructed views towards the wild mountains of Moskenesøy. In early and mid winter especially, the sun sets behind the mountains, filling the sky with light if the conditions are right.

This particular day, while leading a group for Muench workshops (keep an eye out for another tour in 2017), we had almost perfect conditions.  With sunset arriving in the early afternoon in mid January, I saw that the calm conditions and light layer of clouds might result in some good light.  I think so!

Even looking in the other direction, where a soft pastel filled the sky over Ramberg, there were numerous scenes to be photographed within a few minutes walk from the vans.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
ISO 100
f 9
1/60 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #163 – Horseid Beach Winter Camping

tent illuminated at night while wild camping at scenic Horseid beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter camping at Horseid beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  March 3, 2014. 18:47

I often get asked if its possible to reach so-and-so location in winter. And I can only really answer, ‘I don’t know.’ Winter on Lofoten can mean anything from hurricane force winds and -20˚C windchill in a hopeless whiteout, Waste deep powered snow, 7˚C and rain, or anything in between.

The start of 2014 saw Lofoten nearly devoid of snow. The calendar said winter, but the islands looked more like May. While the temperatures still remained relatively cold, and one had to be cautious of ice, most lower level hiking locations on the islands were easier than normal to reach.

Taking advantage of these condition, I visited all 3 of Moskenesøy’s best beaches.  I actually would have like a bit more snow and winter look, but it still nice to be out camping in places that I normally only visit in summer or autumn.

On this night, at Horseid beach, I was hoping for some northern lights, but they would not arrive unfortunately.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
17mm
ISO 500
f 5
4 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #162 – Haukland Beach Winter

Snow covered Haukland beach in winter, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: River flowing through a snow covered Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 3, 2015; 08:38

The day arrived flat and grey, with textureless waves of snow passing over the islands like a curtain swept across the land.  Despite the lack of any interesting light, it is always worth taking advantage of a fresh layer of snow on one of Lofoten’s many beaches – something that is becoming more and more difficult as the islands fill with photographers and the beaches quickly become full of footprints.

With a blank canvas of white covering the land and filling the sky, I needed to find some area of contrast for the scene.  Luckily, part of the small river flowing across Haukland was still uncovered, leading nicely to the mountain in the background, making a diagonal line across the photo. Nothing dramatic, but a nice scene none-the-less.

I should also add a note of caution for days like this. Haukland often has a small pond that forms on the back of the beach.  When covered in a blank layer of snow, it can be really easy to miss the fact that you are leaving sand and beginning to walk across ice, which probably won’t support you for more than a few steps.  If you are unfamiliar with the area and have not recently seen where the pond is, proceed cautiously, otherwise you might end up to your waste in freezing water…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 11
5 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images: top, bottom

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Friday Photo #161 – Winter Sunrise

Winter sunrise over mountain landscape, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Stormy winter mountain sunrise, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2015; 10:46

Following on last weeks image, here is a wide angle view of the same scene a little while later.  Quite a difference and hard to even tell I was at the same location. And even though 30 minutes or so had passed, the slowly rising sun of the arctic allows for a lot of time to work with the light – assuming no clouds get in the way.

Though I was only part-way to my goal of Ryten for the day, the wind was already beginning to pick up as I gained elevation.  I thought the shadows formed from the wind sculpted snow created an interesting foreground element to the scene, while the sun just rising over the distant hill adds a bit of balance to an area that would otherwise feel to dark to me.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 250
f 16
1/80 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #160 – Solbjørn Winter Sunrise

Winter sunrise over Solbjørn mountain peak, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sunrise over Solbjørn mountain peak, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2015; 10:09

I got a late start on this morning, as I took my time packing my backpack for a planned night camping on Ryten. The beginning of the route begins in a low valley with limited visibility, but as we climbed the first hill, I could see the clouds overhead beginning to get some nice color.  Not knowing what was happening on the other side, I picked up the pace in an attempt to reach someplace with some light.

Well, there was no need to rush. It was one of those mornings where to sun seemed perfectly timed with the clouds, each moving in parallel with each other, keeping the light going and going.

Though my goal was Ryten – which turned out to be far to windy for camping, I spend more than an hour at this first location while shooting everything from 14mm to 200mm. This is a telephoto shot of Solbjørn peak, on Moskenesøy.

Stay tuned next week for the 14mm version of this scene.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
200mm
f 10
ISO 160
1/100 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #159 – Å Sunset

Winter sunser over snow covered coast at Å, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sunset at Å, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 4, 2015. 14:59

The coastal cliffs at the end of the road, past the village of Å have been one of my most visited winter locations over the last years.

Particularly from late January to mid February, the sun meets the sea over the mountains at the ‘end’ of Lofoten, making it a perfect sunset location.  Later in the year, the sun moves too far to the west/north and this location doesn’t work as well, as a majority of the light gets blocked by the mountains.

Additionally, there is often sheltered sections of the cliffs to be found on especially windy, camera blowing over days. And even without a fresh layer of snow, on all but the calmest days, the crashing waves add a nice element to the scene – but don’t get too close!

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
f 11
ISO 31
10 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #158 – Olstind Winter

Olstind mountain peak glows pink at sunrise, Toppøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Olstind winter sunrise, Toppøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 22, 2015

I’m not sure if I will ever have enough images of Olstind, and when I think I might, I’ll drive by and see light like this. There is a good reason that this is Lofoten’s, and perhaps one of Norway’s as a whole, most iconic mountain peaks. Rising like an Egyptian pyramid directly from the fjord, mountains don’t get much better in my opinion. Although someone had do go put a salmon farm at the bottom of the mountain a year or so back, which is a bit annoying!

With the southern oriented January sun, Olstind catches the first morning light, making the Reine area a good location to photograph in the mornings.  And for Olstind specifically, there is no shortage of locations from which to aim your camera at the mountain.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
f 13
ISO 31
20 seconds
WB Daylight
3 images: bottom, middle, top

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Friday Photo #157 – Flakstadøy Coast

Rocky coastline of Flakstadøy overlooking Nappstraumen, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Crashing waves on Flakstadøy coast, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 18, 2015; 10:19

Beyond the beaches on the east side of Flakstadøy, there are near endless possibilities of other coastal scenes. This section of coast, before reaching Storsandnes, was particularly nice on this day as the bigger waves carried just enough strength to wash over the flat, coastal rocks.

Though I often shoot 2 image with a tilt-shift lens for the square crop, this image a bit rare for me in that I utilized separate exposures for each image. for the waves, I wanted a nice flow of water, but still a bit of detail and not a totally soft and milky look, so I use a 1 second exposure. However, for the sky, I wanted a bit of softening of the clouds, so I exposed at 10 seconds for the upper image. I could have gone longer, but shooting 2 images always takes a bit of extra time, and I usually end up having to run away from a bit wave multiple times while shooting, so I need to work fast…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5
24mm
f 13
ISO 31
1 second, 10 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #156 – Offersøykammen Winter Sun

Low winter sun in January over coastal mountain landscape from Offersøykammen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Low winter sun from Offersøykammen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 20, 2015; 12:31

Happy 2016! I’m not quite sure where 2015 went, probably because I spent most of my time behind the computer writing 3 ebooks on Lofoten, but the new year is here. I have some big plans for the year, which if I can manage, should result in some pretty cool stuff happening on this site and beyond.

Next, this image marks 3 years of Friday Photos! I’m not quite sure how I have done it, and on a few occasions it was sometime late in the night before I thought, ‘Oh crap! it’s Friday!” And then quickly tried to write something. Lately, it has been a bit of a struggle as I put most of my focus on ebooks; I’m not a natural writer, and some weeks I only have so many words in my head, which once used up, I struggle to produce anything more. But I’ll still continue along as best as I can.

For anyone who has purchased one of my ebooks in the last year, thank you! Without your support, I’m not sure what the future of this site might be. I must admit, there are times when I wonder if keeping this site going is still worth it, especially as there are so many new places in the world to discover. It really is hard work to provide so much information…

Now to the photo. A rare, sunny and calm winter day in early 2015. One of the last good days before the weather more or less turned into one endless storm for pretty much the whole of February. Having been dropped off in Leknes and then hitchhiking to Stamsund to pickup my rental car, I had something of a late start to the day. Offersøykammen seemed like the easiest destination to get some decent images without too much effort.

I think it can be written, that the sun barely rises above the horizon in January, but sometimes that is hard to translate visually. A big reason of these Friday Photo posts is to show you what it really looks like. So this is just about as high as the sun reached on January 20, with pink light shining across the snow covered landscape. The day is one long sunrise – sunset. Absolutely fantastic!

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
20mm
f 16
ISO 200
1/60 second
WB Daylight

PS: There are still a few places available on my winter photo workshop in February, if you’re interested in trying to get to places like this… 🙂

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Friday Photo #155 – Toppøy Winter

orbu cabins in winter, Toppøy, Reine Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Toppøy in winter, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 14, 2015. 08:28

A fresh layer of fallen snow at dawn – perfect! Though the heavy sky kept much color from appearing, a layer of snow covering the coastal rocks down to the tide line is one of my favorite types of winter scenes on Lofoten, and one that has to be taken advantage of when it appears.

I have shot many versions of this scene over the years, more often turning 90˚ to my right and looking across the fjord the the rising pyramid of Olstind, across the fjord. However, on this day I turned my attention to the Rorbu cabin, as the light was slightly more interesting in this direction, with a bit more contrast behind the mountain. And I have plenty compositions of Olstind in better light anyhow…

I think this is a nice ‘winter on Lofoten’ type scene: Rorbu, mountains, sea, and snow.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5
24mm
ISO 125
f 11
20 seconds
WB Daylight

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