Friday Photo #131 – Myrland Summer

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Myrland, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Midnight light and summer fields, Myrland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 6, 2015. 23:56

Sleep in near impossible for a photographer on Lofoten in Summer, more so if the light is good. After a couple consecutive days in the mountains, I was feeling a bit lazy and looking for something coastal to photograph.

I had been out to Myrland earlier in the evening, with some nice light on this field and barn – which is the shot that is the cover of my Seasons on Lofoten – Summer eBook. After that, I drove back down the road to Storsandnes and found a place to park for the night.  But as I finished dinner and the hours passes, I wasn’t content with the scene in front of me, the sea just wasn’t calm or stormy enough. Before heading off the another beach, I decided just to checkout Myrland one last time. The light was better than before!

I arrived a few minutes before midnight, as the sun was breaking through some clouds. The mountains had a wonderful warm light shining on them and the wind was still quite calm.  I knelt down in the field just on the edges of the flowers and got completely wet from the soggy ground, but no matter when the light is nice.

Normally I don’t photograph such rural scenes very often, but somehow, this photo says ’summer on Lofoten’ to me and is one of my favorite images from this past trip.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
70mm
ISO 250
f 5
1/125 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #130 – Hustind Winter

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Hustind Winter Hike, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Climbing Hustind in winter, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 21, 2015.  13:18

Hustind is one of those peaks that I’ve driven by dozens of times, always thinking I need to hike it sometime, yet always pass it by for some other objective.  Finally, on a stormy February day after my friend Till joined me from Norway, we figured the peak would be a good warmup for things to come.

As we ascended towards the summit, we were under constant threat of the next wave of snow approaching from the south.  The higher we got, the closer the clouds.  But even then, a faint sun would break through from time to time, adding a bit of contrast to the otherwise cold and barren landscape.

One on the summit, the snow arrived within a few minutes and we had to descent in a near total whiteout, luckily with our footprints to follow…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
16mm
ISO 250
f 8
1/500 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #129 – Ryten Winter Hike

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Winter HIking Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter hiking towards Ryten at Dawn, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2015.  10:15

Though the forecast showed calm winds, I could tell the clouds were moving across the mountain peaks a bit faster than I wanted.  Even so, I tried to be optimistic about things and packed up my camping gear for the night.  The goal: A night camping near the summit of Ryten.

A short while into the hike and after the first little climb I rounded a corner and saw the magnificent light of the sun shining across the snow through a hole in the clouds.  Luckily, the light lasted longer than I expected and I was able to capture a few different compositions.  I think this image captures the mood of the day quite well.

Later, upon reaching the top Ryten, the wind was so strong that I could barely stand up or talk. The plans for camping were obviously off, so we headed back to the car. I wish I would have carried a lighter backpack all day, but good exercise I guess!

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 250
f 8
1/160 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #128 – Hoven Winter View

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Hoven, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter view from Hoven, Gimsøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 21, 2015.  11:53

With another one of mid January’s fantastic winter days, and the day after I hiked up Offersøykammen, I found myself a bit bored again, so I headed up Hoven, a small mountain on Gimsøy.

Luckily, I again had a few footprints in the snow to follow, taking away any difficulties in winter navigation. Though even in winter, Hoven is a relatively straight forward and simple hike, it’s always nicer to have a path to follow, if only to save on time.

By the time I reached the summit I was down to a t-shirt – so much for arctic circle in the heart of winter!  But a moderate breeze was blowing, so I quickly returned to a down jacket once I stopped moving and started shooting.

The southern sky, with the noon sun low on the horizon was glowing a bright orange.  At this time of year, the sun is so low in the sky that only southern facing aspects of the islands receive any direct sunlight, and that’s only if their not blocked by any mountains.

I liked the reflection in the water below, and the contrast between the cool blues of the snow and the warm sky.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
130mm
ISO 160
f 9
1/125 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #127 – Himmeltindan Winter Sunrise

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Vikvatnet winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sunrise over Vikvatnet and Himmeltindan, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 27, 2015.  10:06

A somewhat mild winter, temperature wise, left many of Lofoten’s lakes still unfrozen or only partially frozen at the end of January.  Lakes that I had stood in the middle of at the same time in previous years were now no-go zones, unless I was looking for a cold swim.

But in this gentle balance of freezing and thawing, unique patters and shapes can form which give a bit of detail to a scene.  In this case, there was a rock just beneath the thin layer of lake ice which kept the nights snow from melting.

The snow circle was a few meters into the lake.  I tried to get as close as possible, and still being close to the shore, the water wasn’t that deep, but I didn’t want to risk breaking through.  So I pushed my camera and tripod out as far as my arms could reach, the ice making creaking sounds with every movement, so I could get something of a decent composition.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 125
f 11
1/13 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

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Friday Photo #126 – Storsandnes Twilight

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Storsandnes beach in winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter twilight at Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 20, 2015.  14:35

I had shot Storsandnes in fantastic light at dusk on the previous evening, yet as the light began to fade on this day, something drew me back here again.

The light was similar to the previous afternoon with the soft pinks and blues as the earth’s shadow passes through the sky prior to the arrival of night.  But there were some gently moving clouds beginning to appear, something to add balance to the sky.

Though this image is fairly similar to several others that I have taken at Storsandnes, there is something more interesting here than in any of the others.  I’m not sure if it’s the simplicity of the composition or the subtleness of the color, but it is one of my favorite images from the winter of 2015.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 4mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 31
f 13
90 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop neutral density filter

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Friday Photo #125 – Offerøykammen Winter View

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Offersoykammen in winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter view from summit of Offersøykammen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 20, 2015. 12:01

The fine weather of mid January 2015 held on for a few more days after my time guiding for Muench Photography Workshops.  After Picking up my rental car in Stamsund, I didn’t really know what else to do than go for a short hike.

There was lots of fresh snow around and my snowshoes wouldn’t arrive for a few more days, so I had to pick something easy and familiar – Offersøykammen seemed like a good fit. Luckily a couple people had gone up the route before me – it’s a popular peak with the locals – so I didn’t have to do any route finding and thus made pretty good time as I climbed towards the summit.

The winds picked up a bit as I reached the top a little before noon.  The low winter sun, barely rising over Skottind to the south cast a nice orange/pink glow across the wind carved snow of summit.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 200
f 11
1/100 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #124 – Hamnoy Winter View

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Hamnoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Hamnøy in Winter, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 17, 2015.  10:06

A classic view of Hamnøy from the bridge.  This view has become one of the more popular compositions of Lofoten over the last couple years, coinciding with the growing popularity of Lofoten itself as a winter destination and the fact that many photo tours base themselves on Hamnøy, only a few minutes walk away. It seems that every time I drive across the bridge, there is a row of tripods setup.

But it is a composition that suites itself particularly well to the soft light of winter – and the more snow the better, of course.

The final image is a composite of 3 images shifted vertically with the 24mm tilt-shift lens.  I knew I wanted a vertical composition, but I don’t really like 2/3 crop vertical images much these days.  So with the tilt-shift lens, I can shoot multiple images and crop to 8×10, without losing any file size.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 125
f 9.5
25 seconds
WB Daylight
3 images – top, middle, bottom
6 stop neutral density filter

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Friday Photo #123 – Olstind Winter Sunrise

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Reine Winter Sunrise, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter Sunrise over Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 18, 2015. 12:16

Whoever advised against shooting landscape photos at high-noon had obviously never been near the arctic winter, where in the first weeks of the year, midday will provide some of the most spectacular light there is to photograph anywhere.

This image is from another one of my days guiding for Muench Photography Workshops Lofoten tour.  We had already photographed Olstind on a couple different occasions and locations, but as we were on our way to StatOil for some much needed nourishment after a morning along the coast, this light was too good not to stop.

So we popped out of the vans and spread out across the viewing platform above Reine.  I keep telling myself I have enough images of this view after nearly 20 trips to Lofoten, but then I get light light this and have to take just one more.  Perhaps it’s time I start a website dedicated only to Reine and Olstind.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
44mm
ISO 40
f 13
10 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #122 – Reine Winter Sunrise

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Reine In winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sunrise over Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 19, 2015.  10:33

On the final morning of my time guiding for Muench Photography Workshop’s Lofoten tour I decided to take some of the group on a short hike above Reine to get a slightly different perspective on the beautiful, but well photographed location.  The tour thus far had already experienced some of the most consistently good conditions I’ve had during winter on Lofoten, so it was worth a bit of a gamble on a bit of hiking to a single location. And it paid off.

It was one of those mornings that you didn’t want to leave. The dawn twilight was nice, the first hints of color on the horizon was nicer, and finally, the weak winter sun illuminated Olstind in a soft pink glow.  I think the guys were more than happy!

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
34mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/20 seconds
WB Daylight
3 image pano

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