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

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