Friday Photo #37 – Kvalvika Beach

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Group of people on Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #36 – Vikvatnet Thaw

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Mountain reflection of frozen lake Vikvatnet, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #35 – Moonlight Over Eggum

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Full moon shines in night sky above mountain peak, Eggum, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #34 – Munkebu Hut in Autumn

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Munkebu mountain hut with Hermannsdalstinen peak in distance, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Munkebu hut and Hermannsdalstind in Autumn, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 7, 2012.  13:27

My last full day on the islands for 2012.  After a rather stormy last few days, the weather cleared up and I decided to make one last journey into the hills.  I had originally planned on getting an early start to the day and maybe making an attempt on Hermannsdalstind, but that didn’t happen; perhaps because I stayed up too late the previous night looking for Northern Lights.

By this time in the year, end of the first week of October, nearly all the trees across the islands had lost their leaves.  While this left much of the islands somewhat barren looking as they awaited the arrival of the first snows, the low, ground foliage still had some nice color to be seen.

I had actually planned at staying a night or two in the Munkebu hut in August or September, but someone decided to infect the place with bed bugs (eeeekkk!), so it was closed the majority of the 2012 Summer season (as far as I have read, it has been re-opened for 2013, but that’s probably a bit late news for you if you’re reading this now).  But as I’d never been up here before, I decided just to start hiking and see where I ended up for the day.

While I think this area is quite a beautiful part of the islands, and one of the the most isolated parts of Moskenesøya, one of the landscape photographers greatest nemeses is present, power lines!  grrr!  There would be some beautiful, untouched views from up here, yet a row of power lines always seem to find their way into the best composition.  And I’m not even sure what they’re doing way out here, and the poor guys that had to put them in in the first place, but they’re there.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70f/2.8
29mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/200 sec
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #33 – Olstind in Clouds

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Heavy clouds conceal summit of Olstind mountain peak rising from fjord, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Olstind hidden in Winter Clouds, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 17, 2013.  17:11

Olstind, probably the most iconic peak of the Lofoten Islands, when you can see it.  Taken at the same time an location as last weeks Friday Photo, another gloomy image during the fading light of a short February winter day.

For some reason I don’t imagine I’ll ever have enough images of Osltind.  While often times I pass the mountain by if it’s a scene and lighting conditions I’ve previously photographed, when something new is to be found I’ll usually make the effort to hop out of the car, or walk, and see what I can come up with.

I think the calmness of the evening drew me out here on this particular day.  I’ve seen the mountain hidden in clouds enough times before, but for some reason, there was something a bit more interesting this time.  The sky was heavy, as indeed, rain started falling only a few minutes after this image.  But at the moment, the islands were calm.  The waters of the fjord sat flat and silent, hardly making a sound on the barnacle covered rocks I was standing on.  And so yet another photo of Olstind was taken.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
8 seconds
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #32 – Empty Rorbu

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Derelict Rorbu sits on edge of fjord, Vestvalen, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Abandoned Rorbu, Vestvalen, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 17, 2013.  17:12

Like last weeks Friday Photo, this is a location I’m so familiar with that I’ve never thought of taking a photo of it before.  I’ve stood in front of this building a dozen times or more, with my camera pointed at Olstind – one of my favorite locations to shoot Olstind from as you can get away from all the power lines – yet I’ve never turned around and given much though to the building itself.  Perhaps I just needed the right conditions.

I find something haunting about this image.  It is dark and subtle, far from the typical ‘hero’ type Lofoten photos I and others normally take.  It feels lonely and forlorn, yet with a glimmer of something. A future.

Perhaps on most occasions I would not have even been here as the last traces of light faded from a February day while a gentle rain began to fall just as I put my camera in my backpack and wandered back to the car.  I was merely killing a bit of time before being graciously invited by another photographer I had met for a cup of tea in his Rorbu just down the road – an invitation not to be passed up while sleeping in a car in winter.  And so, I ended up with what is probably one of my favorite images of the trip.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
8 seconds
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #31 – Winter Farm

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Farm building in snowy winter landscape, Farstad, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter farm, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 16, 2013.  14:21

It had now been several days of heavy, mountain concealing clouds covering the islands.  Exactly the opposite of what I want, but often what is there.  At least it was still cold, and the snow remained, so there is that to be thankful for.  But it was one of those days where the needle on the gas tank drops lower and lower, yet the camera rarely makes it out of the bag.

I’ve driven by this lake and farm a hundred times or more, and never taken a photo, likely since I was headed towards something better.  But for some reason on this particular day, a day of otherwise almost nothing photographically, the emptiness of this scene caught my eye.  There is almost nothing but white and gray, save for a single farmstead.  Somehow I can almost feel the cold and the bleakness of the Lofoten winter in this image.  I’ll probably drive by a hundred more times and never take another photo.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
ISO 200
f 11
1/100 sec
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #30 Flakstadpollen in Winter

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Snow covers sea ice in inner Flakstadpollen, Kilan, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Frozen Sea ice in Inner Flakstadpollen, Flakstadøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 14, 2013.  09:01

As the second half of February arrived this year, the previous weeks of cold, but clear and calm weather came to an abrupt end.  Heavy clouds rolled across the islands and the beautiful light of the low winter sun was taken over by a flat, dull gray.  At least there was still a decent coat of snow that had yet to be too covered in footprints.

I often arrive to the islands in less than ideal conditions, often missing some brilliant light by a day or two.  But I always feel a need to get those first few photos.  I have been to the islands enough now to know that I need to be patient, but as days 1, 2, 3 pass by and I’ve hardly touched my camera, I sense a growing frustration within myself to get out and shoot something.  Oftentimes this can be a fruitless quest, but every once in a while, something interesting will appear despite all efforts of the light working against me.

This image only existed for a few day.  Thanks to a fresh coating of snow that had fallen overnight, ‘cleaning’ up the sea ice, which by itself, was not especially photogenic.  Luckily, despite the crowd of photographers on the islands this February, I was the first to come across this scene, finding it still untouched; though most groups only hang around Reine anyways, going for the ‘hero’ shots made popular by several photographers better known than myself.  But that is good, as I often find that I have the rest of the islands to myself.  Free of footprints in the snow, and to wander as I please.   Perhaps I shouldn’t give away too many secrets though…

Without the crack in the ice, this scene would not have worked at all as it would have been too flat and boring.  And I think in situations like this, one needs to resist the urge to punch up the contrast to some hyper-realism that didn’t exist.  The light was shit, as it often is on Lofoten in winter.  But using shape and form, there is still the possibility to find something interesting.

This is a scene where the 24mm tilt-shift lens is really is a valuable lens for Lofoten, often due the the sheer vertical relief of 800-1000m mountains rising directly from the sea.  Much winder than 24mm, and there are distracting elements on the edges of the frame.  But with a normal 2/3 crop, the tops of the mountains would be lost, unless getting low enough to the snow where the crack would then lose separation and definition.  I guess one could always crop from a wider lens, but I don’t really like to do that.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 13
1/30 sec
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #29 – Reinebringen Mountain Sunset

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Sunset over Reine and Hamnoy from Reinebringen, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Reinebringen Mountain Sunset, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 26, 2010.  00:35

The sky was a perfect blue as my friend Søren and I arrived back in Reine after two nights camping at Bunes beach.  The original plan was to head back to Stamsund, but such a day was too good to spend sitting on buses and waiting around Leknes.  Not having planned ahead for such a situation when leaving Bunes, my water bottles were empty and so I resorted to purchasing 1 liter of overpriced water from the small store in Reine.  And at that, we were on our way towards Reinebringen.

Despite our heavy overnight packs we made good time up the mountain, with a few odd comments and looks of surprise from the people we managed to pass.  We were on the summit before noon, with hardly a cloud in the sky and barely a wisp of wind to be felt.  Absolute perfection!  After some time of sitting in the sun, I set up my tent for the sole purpose have having some shade.  And by mid afternoon I was down to about 200ml of water.  But we were determined to stay on the mountain and so the hours slowly passed by as the sun sunk lower and lower on the horizon.

Not trusting if the weather would last, I took the tent down around 11pm, deciding that it would be safer just to sleep in the open; allowing a faster escape if the weather turned.  By midnight I was in my sleeping back, trying to get a few hours sleep before our 5am wake up call.  Though some 20 minutes later I opened my eyes to this scene emerging. Shit!  Time to get up…

I didn’t even bother getting dressed or putting shoes on.  So there I stood, barefooted and only in my underwear on the summit of Reinebringen as I photographed a midnight sunset.  It probably would have been a pretty funny looking scene had someone else decided to show up then.  By 5am we were on the way back down the mountain for the 6am bus back to Stamsund, where I slept the rest of the morning away on the deck outside.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/40 sec
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #28 – Hamnoya January Sunrise

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Winter sun silhouettes empty stockfish drying racks, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sun at midday, Hamnøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 6, 2010. 12:50

By the end of the first week of January, the sun is just barely beginning to wake from its winter hibernation. Not even fully crossing the horizon, the sun slowly arcs the southern sky before the long winter night returns by mid afternoon. While I had already made a half dozen trips to the islands by this point, this was my first real journey into the heart of winter.

Alone and cold, my only shelter from the fierce storms that blasted the islands was my tiny rental car, unable to even fully recline the seats to sleep. I spent and average of 20 hours per day wrapped in my sleeping bag, reading by the light of my headlamp to pass the time, drifting in and out of sleep when I could. Snow fell so heavily on several days that the only place I could park so sleep for the night was next to bus stops on the E10 where a snow plow would hopefully arrive by mid morning to dig me most of the way out. But it was over these 5 days that I took some of my brilliant photos of the islands to date. I embraced to cold and the darkness and used it to my advantage.

This image is from my first full day on the islands. The night had been turbulent and stormy (I had yet to learn that Utakleiv is generally not a good place to sleep in a car in winter), but as dawn arrived, the islands clear and calm. By midday I found myself in the west as the sun was beginning to break the horizon. It seemed to just sit there, halfway between sea and sky.

Despite the fact that the horizon was clear, the clouds overhead never developed much color. The mountain behind me were glowing a brilliant pink, but I also wanted to capture something looking towards the sun, even though the scene was actually somewhat boring to tell the truth. So after unknowing getting my car stuck in the snow (I had to get pulled by some guy in a tractor I found clearing the streets a little later), I walked over to the cod drying rack, still sitting empty this early in the year. Trying a few composition, I eventually decided something a bit more abstract might fit the scene better. So I ’tilted’ the lens all the way to throw most of the frame out of focus and help lead the viewer towards the sun.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 5.6
1/160 sec
WB Daylight
2 images – top/bottom
Full lens tilt

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