Friday Photo | 68 North

Friday Photo #44 – Bunes Beach Rainbow

Photo: Rainbow at sunrise emerges from mountains at Bunes beach, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 17, 2013. 04:29

Perhaps one of the best sunrises I have ever photographed on Lofoten, I nearly slept through this one. My second morning on the islands, I was still suffering the effects of jet lag and staying up till midnight the previous night – the short summer nights don’t leave time for much sleep. So when my alarm went off at 3:30am and I drearily peaked my head out from the tent the sky looked somewhat boring, I laid back down. I know I am on the islands to take photos, but there are times in tiredness where for a fleeting moment, I wouldn’t mind if it were raining. Then I come to my senses. Sleep when I die!

A little more time passed before my next alarm sounded and I figured I might as well get out of the tent and see what the morning would provide. By now a small bit of color was beginning to appear in the sky so I hurried out to the beach. The sunrise towards the east was quite nice with some pink glowing clouds filling the sky, but as I passed around a corner on the coast, this came into sight.

The world seemed to be at a standstill, and even the wind was calm. For 20 minutes, the rainbow slowly drifted out from behind the cliff until the clouds finally faded. It was one of those lucking moments where a combination of elements all come together at once.

I returned to my tent for a couple hours more sleep before having to pack up camp and hike back to the ferry. As I was leaving the beach the sky was now a flat grey and a gentle rain began to fall. A rain that some hours later would see me arrive soaking wet at Horseid beach and forced to hide in my tent for the next 18 hours…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
3 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

November 8, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Autumn, Friday Photo, Moskenesøya

Friday Photo #43 – Reinebringen Twilight

Photo: Twilight over Reine from summit of Reinebringen, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 25, 2013. 19:48

Clear September skies and hopes of a repeat of the previous night’s Northern Lights led me to the summit of Reinebringen on this day. Otherwise, I perhaps would have hiked some new mountain somewhere, but the chance at seeing the Aurora fill the night sky over Reine was something I had to go for. And of course, the view from Reinebringen in one of the best and most iconic ones in Lofoten, so it’s easy for me to find an excuse to go up there.

The clouds that had filled the sky during the afternoon faded away as Twilight and then the blue hour arrived. My last night on Reinebringen had been in the Summer of 2010, the nights still too short for any really darkness to arrive, so seeing the streetlights come on as the world darkened came a bit as an unexpected, but scenic surprise to me.

Without the lights, the blue tones, and lack of much contrast would have left this scene lacking in contrast in my opinion. Still scenic, but not special. The warm glow of the street lights, running across the islands like a slithering snake lead my eye through the image and give overall depth to the scene. An image I was never expecting to create, but something I’m quite happy to come across. And I’m sure this won’t be my last night on Reinebringen…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 8
10 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

November 1, 2013/1 Comment/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Summer

Friday Photo #42 – Kvalvika Beach Aurora

Photo: Aurora over Kvalvika beach campsite, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Aug 30, 2013. 22:54

As August (and summer) comes to an end the Arctic sky finally begins to darken enough for the Aurora to return from their summer Holidays. Well, they’ve been in the sky all along, but it was never dark enough for them to shine. This year, might first sighting of the Northern Lights was on August 21st, Though they were quite faint against the twilight night. The night of this image, August 30, the sky was significantly dark and the Aurora strong enough for a decent image to be made.

This is also an image that I nearly missed, as a few hours earlier I had sprained my ankle while coming down from sunset up on Ryten, and was thus is a fair amount of pain and without the ability to move much. But as soon as I saw the Aurora, I left the warmth of the campfire and did my best to hobble and crawl around the ground to get myself in position. And with the fairly dark foreground of the campsite, and the Aurora high overhead, I needed to keep my camera quite low to the ground to capture more of the sky. Thus I would probably would have ended up laying on the ground anyhow, sprained ankle or not.

The Aurora only lasted for a few moments and then disappeared as quickly as it arrived. But due to the high cliffs surrounding Kvalvika beach, it is probably not the best location for Aurora watching anyhow, most of the lower horizon is hidden from view. Had I still been up on Ryten, it probably would have turned out to be quite a nice display.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 800
f 5
10 seconds
WB Daylight

October 25, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter

Friday Photo #41 – Eggum Nights

Photo: Winter night on Nedre Heimredalsvatnet, Eggum, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 2, 2012. 17:38

With a near full moon and calm winds, five-o-clock is too early to go to be, even in February on Lofoten. Parked at Eggum for the night, I wandered off for a bit of exploring.

Growing up in California, I’m not sure I even stood upon a frozen lake until my time in Germany five years ago. But with the low snow levels upon my arrival at the beginning of February, frozen lakes were about the only thing of interest. I wandered out into a shallow section of the frozen lake, making sure I could always see the bottom in case I happened to fall though; I figured as long as I could still stand up, it wasn’t too likely that I would die.

Several cracks formed interesting features on the surface of the lake, and so I used these as a foreground subject, lit by moonlight. It was a bit eerie, to stand there alone in the darkness, the ice creaking and cracking as the temperatures dropped, occasionally echoing a loud ‘boom’ through the mountains. I did my best to remain still and not fall over, often having to use my extended tripod as a bit of walking stick. A few days later, while on a different part of the lake, as I was putting my camera away, winds blew my tripod towards the center of the lake. It was a scary few minutes trying to get it back!

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 320
f 7.1
152 seconds
WB Daylight

October 18, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Austvågøya, Friday Photo, Winter

Friday Photo #40 – Vatterfjordpollen Winter

Photo: Ice forms on Vatterfjordpollen, Austvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 15, 2013. 16:12

As the last light faded from the short February day I found myself passing Vatterfjordpollen on the way back towards Svolvær and in search for a car-bivy spot for the night. I was actually thinking of maybe checking out the Lofoten meeting of the Norwegian Alpine Club, but the hotel looked a bit to posh for me, as so I passed on by.

When the temperature is sufficiently cold, some of the tidal fjords will begin to freeze. Sometimes this creates something interesting and sometimes not. The days thus far in the heavy overcast sky had mostly been a waste. Another ‘weather’ day for Lofoten. But in the darkening sky I wandered down to the fjord’s edge.

By far from my best image from the trip, in those first days on the islands I’m always anxious to take a picture of something, anything. And as I drive in circles and see the needle on the gas tank fall, knowing next time I pull up to the gas station I’m going to blow through $100+, that desperation grows even further. Sometimes I don’t have the patience to park in one place and read the day away, even though I know I should.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 100
f 134
.5 seconds
WB Daylight

October 11, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Autumn, Friday Photo, Vestvågøya

Friday Photo #39 – Himmeltindan Views

Photo: From the Summit of Himmeltindan, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Oct 2, 2012. 14:38

I usually try and save my mountains for when the light is good. No point in carrying a heavy backpack several thousand vertical feet only to have shit light. But as the days of Autumn progressed, I seemed to have had some bad timing. A few days previously, clouds decided to form over Skottind just as I arrived at the summit, and of course they cleared as soon as I was halfway down again. Now a couple days into October, another unusually mild Autumn day presented itself. And so I departed Stamsund under nice blue skies and a bright sun, not entirely sure where I was headed, but up something for sure.

As I parked my car at Haukland beach, I could see some high cloud appearing on the horizon and heading in my direction. Headphones in and some good music blasting out of the Ipod, I set myself a frantic pace as I hit the trail. I quickly overheated and had to strip down to only a t-shirt, in October! Higher and higher I ascended, lungs and legs burning while to clouds grew ever nearer to the Autumn sun.

I lost. By the time reached the 931 meter south summit, barely over an hour after leaving the car, at sea level, the clouds had arrived and the light grew flat. I met a few soldiers at the top, lucky them, they got to take the elevator inside the mountain. I half joked if I could catch a ride down and was given a stern ‘No, that won’t be possible.’ I already knew as much, but it was worth a try. Though I was pleasantly informed that since the radar on the higher north summit was down for maintenance, I was allowed to continue on up there.

The wind blew cold and I didn’t waste too much time hanging around. While flat light covered the islands, there was at least a bit of interesting light in the sky. Not the ideal image that I imagined, but not a total loss either. And all the more reason to head back up again…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/250 sec
WB Daylight

October 4, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Autumn, Friday Photo, Vestvågøya

Friday Photo #38 – Stamsund Autumn Storm

Photo: Autumn Clouds, Stamsund, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Aug 29, 2013. 19:10

When the winds blow strong, I usually keep my head low and spend my time by the warm fireplace in the Stamsund hostel. Stamsund was one of the reasons I became so enamored with the Islands in the first place, and despite the fact that I wander around much more than my early journeys (before I could afford to rent a car), I still try and spend a good be of time here.

And it’s not all sitting around and sharing stories with other travelers. There are a few places out on the coastline beyond the hostel that are pretty reliable and sheltered for when the weather gets bad. It’s a common sight for me to be heading out the door, tripod in hand, to go scrambling over the rocks and out to the sea whenever a break in the rain occurs.

While the mountains of this scene never change, the sky and the sea often due. If you compare all the photos I’ve taken over the years from pretty much this exact same, you’ll think each one was taken somewhere else. On this particular day, heavy, wet clouds were sweeping across the islands. This spot proved to be the only place where I could get myself out of the wind enough to keep my tripod from shaking while the waves crashed just below my feet.

I experimented with a number of exposure times and this one feels the most dynamic to me. Any slower and there wasn’t quite enough movement in the clouds and they just appeared out of focus. Much longer and the clouds lost any texture, and lost the stormy appearance what this day was.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
30 seconds
WB Daylight
6 Stop B+W Neutral Density filter
2 Images – Top/Bottom

September 27, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Summer

Friday Photo #37 – Kvalvika Beach

Photo: Kvalvika Beach Friends, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Aug 26, 2012. 16:00

While I typically choose to exclude people from my landscapes, sometimes a human element helps make a scene. I can’t remember exactly what I was doing at the moment, probably wanding around the beach to collect driftwood, when this group of people showed up and caught my eye. And so I pulled out my camera to see if anything interesting might happen.

I would have preferred the beach to be clear of footprints, but what can you do, other than hiring some models to re-create the scene at low tide. As the 3 friend sat and chatted for a minute, before one of them went diving into the water, I grabbed a couple quick photos. Somehow the 3 of them standing there helps show the massive scale of Kvalvika beach, to me the cliffs in this image almost look bigger than they are in real life.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
56mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/160 sec
WB Daylight

September 20, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter

Friday Photo #36 – Vikvatnet Thaw

Photo: Vikvatnet, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 10, 2012. 10:42

This weeks Friday Photo is more illustrative rather than scenic in purpose. This photo shows that Lofoten is not always a winter wonderland of white snow from sand beach to highest peak. There is actually a fragile balance between snow and rain that has a rather dramatic effect on the appearance of the landscape, and in turn, what photographic opportunities you will find. With a fresh layer of snow, most anything is photogenic. When the snow line retreats up the mountains, the low areas can often look bland and lifeless.

Despite the northern latitude of Lofoten, the winter temperatures remain quite mild. For several days previous to this photo a southwest wind brought the temperatures above the freezing level, while rain melted away the snow. Finally reaching a high of 6.2˚C, which might not sound like much, but it was February in the Arctic Circle. And for another reference, the high temp on June 1st, 2012 was 6.5˚C, while June 1st, 2013 reached a high of 26.3˚C. What an amazing variation! Lofoten weather is unpredictable at best, and years seldom seem to repeat themselves. In fact, the weather almost makes a point of being completely bi-polar year upon year.

When I passed by this scene a few days earlier, the lake had been covered in a nice coating of snow. On this morning, I passed by once again on my way out to Haukland beach to see if I could find something interesting. Now, a layer of rain water covered the ice, allowing for a reflection of the mountains. And in combination with the freeze patterns in the ice, created some interesting texture. The light was a bit flat, but what can you do. I was glad it had actually stopped raining for a few minutes.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
44mm
ISO 200
f 11
1/20 sec
WB Daylight

September 13, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter

Friday Photo #35 – Moonlight Over Eggum

Photo: Moonlight over Mustaren, Eggum, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 3, 2012. 17:13

To my dismay, barely any snow covered to lower elevations of the islands upon my arrival at the beginning of February 2012. This was in quite a contrast to my first real winter experience on the islands in January 2010, where it snowed so much that I got my car stuck several times and had to be pulled out. I had traveled to the islands imagining what scenes I would find and how I would photograph them, and yet I arrived to something totally different.

The lack of snow left much of the landscape somewhat drab looking, especially in the flat light of my first days on the islands. And so I found myself looking for new perspectives that I hadn’t though of. At this point in my previous winter experience, I’d never really seen ice, as it had always been covered in snow before. And so on my second night while camping out at Eggum I took a little wander.

By evening the the weather had calmed by what had thus far been some pretty blustery weather. Though Eggum is often one of those places, depending on wind direction, is totally blown out (usually), or sometimes eerily calm, such as this night. I tried some seascapes, but they weren’t working out particularly well, so I turned around and pointed my camera towards the near full moon just as some clouds began appearing from behind the mountain.

I stood there for a while in the cold and silence, the crashing of waves a few meters behind me the only sound to be heard. Some minutes later, a pair of otters began wandering around the rock near me, oblivious to my presence; perhaps it was so cold they couldn’t smell me, or I’d only been on the islands for a couple days so I wasn’t too ripe yet. I’ve seen otters many times on the islands, but this night, in the darkness, was the closest I’ve ever been to them.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 200
f 11
121 seconds
WB Daylight

September 6, 2013/0 Comments/by Cody

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