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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Friday Photo #121 – Bunes Beach Winter

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Bunes beach in Winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sunrise at Bunes beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 25, 2015. 07:48

Bunes beach has mostly been good to me over the last few years, and this year was no exception.  Although there is often a bit of payment required, in this case, one rainy night and one super windy night, if you are to be rewarded with some good light.

While access to Bunes is relatively strait forward, even in winter, camping is pretty much required if one wants to shoot the beach at either sunrise or sunset. After a rainy evening and night, the sky finally cleared sometime in the early morning hours.  Of course I knew this had been forecasted, otherwise I would not have been there, but one never really knows on Lofoten.

With low winter sun, the mountains first receive a highlight of pink as the sun rises on the eastern horizon.  The beach was nearly entirely covered in a layer of ice as the temperatures dropped after as the sky cleared, making the journey from camp to the waves a slightly dangerous trip – I almost decided to put on crampons at one point, to walk across a beach!

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt/shift
24mm
ISO 31
f 13
1 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #120 – Lofoten Northern Lights

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Northern Lights, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights over Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2015.  22:16

What had started out as a windy morning had calmed to little more than a light breeze by evening.  In the previous 2 weeks I had photographed some decent aurora displays, but finally on the end at January the moon was bright enough to light up the landscape. Now all I had to do was wait.

I didn’t want to get too comfortable while waiting in the car, but with the cold and the dark, sleep become difficult to avoid.  So I set my alarm to go off every 30 minutes to wake me up for a quick peak outside.  At 21:30, I saw the first hint of green in the sky.

I had parked near Haukland beach, knowing that I can reach a number of good locations within a few minutes to adjust for where the northern lights might appear in the sky.  As luck would have it, they where almost perfectly aligned over Haukland, and so that is where I started a night of shooting.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 2000
f 4
8 seconds
WB Daylight

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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

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