Friday Photo #230 – Myrland Spring

Myrland Spring - Friday Photo #230

Photo: Spring snow over Myrland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 30, 2017. 23:34

A cold north wind has been blowing across Lofoten during the last week. And while the summer sun has arrived on the islands, summer temperatures seem far away! Fresh snow has fallen across the mountains on several days, and while somewhat normal, it has been a colder than average May here in the north. And I just read that some areas of 3x the amount of snow than normal right now. Perhaps I should pull out the skis and head back to the mountains!

Often I watch the nice light and dramatic clouds outside my window during the evening, thinking to myself that I should head out to the mountains, until I remember the work I still need to do, and continue typing away on the computer. But the other day, I finally succumbed to the temptation and went for a quick sprint up Hornet.

Unfortunately, I waited a little too long, and a lay of clouds ate the sun before I reached the summit. I did manage a coupe images of the soft light shining over the valley, but nothing much compared to what I would have seen if I left an hour earlier. But with this my new backyard, I think I will have plenty of chances for something special in the next years.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 100
f 9
1/15 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #229 – Ytresand Midnight Sun

Ytresand Midnight - Friday Photo #229

Photo: Moltind and Stortind reflect on Ytresand beach under the spring midnight sun, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 29, 2016. 23:48

In a few more days the midnight sun will arrive on Lofoten. And by midnight sun, I mean that the sun will not sink below the horizon. Which isn’t really at midnight either, but closer to 01:00, due to daylight savings time. But I guess midnight sun sounds more romantic than one-o’clock-in-the-morning-sun.

I always find spring to be a bit of a strange time of year for the senses. Or more specifically, the days and light are what I associate with summer, but the temperatures, especially this May on Lofoten, are closer to what I think of as winter. So I just need to make sure to brink my big jacket if I plan on sitting around the mountains all night long.

This evening had a layer of light clouds over the northern sky. Something that I normally hate during the day, as it causes a flat, boring light. But with the sun low on the horizon, it was just strong enough to for some nice, warm light to shine across the mountains.

At low tide, Ytresand beach has the potential for some nice reflections, and being just down the road from my house in Skjelfjord at the time, it was an easy location to get to for a quick photo or two. The mountains of Stortind (right) and Moltind (center-ish) form the dramatic ridgeline on central Flakstadøy.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
50mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/15 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #228 – Stornappstind Sunset

Stornappstind Sunset - Friday Photo #228

Photo: Last light over Stornappstind from Slettind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 13, 2017. 22:24

The midnight sun is little more than a week away now, but I have already begun the transition to ‘night’ hiking. Though on off days, it feels a bit weird to stay up until 03:00 and wake up just before noon or so. Makes me feel like I’ve been out partying all night and then am waisting half the day, but I think I’m adjusting better than last year.

Slettind is now one of my ‘backyard’ mountains. Though there is no trail, a relatively easy grassy slope leads you up to the ridge at around 480 meters. Then some sheep trails and a few rock steps continue the way up to the 569 meter high summit. I have a feeling this will be a place I visit quite frequently, as the views are incredible.

Under the long hours of sunlight the snow is quickly melting out and the islands are beginning to turn green, though this year seems a bit on the late side, as temperatures have remained on the cooler side for much of May. However, in the mountains, it can still be full winter, and if you are planning on hiking anything inland or at elevation during the next few weeks, then you need to be prepared for winter hiking, not casual trail walking.

You can see the coastal side of Stornappstind is mostly melted out, while the high valley on the right side is still carrying a lot of snow. And the remaining snow is likely deeper area, while the shallow stuff covering rocks will be what has melted out first.

And another warning about rockfall. This is a dangerous time of year on Lofoten. Each time I drive the road to Leknes, there are new stones, and some of them quite large, which have fallen from the mountains above.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/15 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #227 – Spring Snow

Ryten Spring Snow - Friday Photo #227

Photo: Spring snow flurries over Ramberg from Ryten, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 19, 2016. 22:35

While the midnight sun is just around the corner and the nights are no longer dark, the last few days have seen the weather turn cold with snow flurries passing over the islands. Spring on Lofoten has a slightly different meaning than spring further south.

This image from last year in mid May, in similar type weather. These passing snow flurries, with the snow only really sticking on the higher elevations, if at all, combined with the low, late evening sun can provide some wonderful light as the long shadows fall across the mountains.

Though this is also a time of year I consider a little hard to photograph, as for the last weeks the grass is mostly brown and lifeless looking after the long winter. This gives most locations in lower elevations a bit of a ‘dead’ look in my opinion. Thus, even with fantastic light, I haven’t been out shooting much unless I can get to the mountain, which unfortunately, hasn’t been much, with the busyness of life getting in the way. But perhaps I need to head up Hornet soon and watch sunset over my new house.

Soon though, the fields will be green, then the first leaves on the trees, and then the mountains themselves. And then, summer! I’m excited to see where my feet will take me this year.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
ISO 250
f 10
1/160 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #226 – Østhimmeltind

Østhimmeltind - Friday Photo #226

Photo: Twilight on the summit ridge of Østhimmeltind (883m), Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 26, 2017. 20:49

Last week I headed up Østhimmel wind for an attempted winter/spring ascent. With the long days from late April onwards, it is possible to begin hikes in mid to late afternoon without too much of a worry about darkness – especially if you know where you’re going. And so we hit the trail around 16:00.

Leaving the road and entering deeper into Mørkdalen the snow got deep and progress became slow as I regularly sank up to my thighs. Though we were in the shadow by now, it was still a relatively warm day. Out route took us up a safe passage, away from any high cliffs over us, as on a regular basis, moderate sized avalanches would come flowing down the steep faces of Himmeltind or Ristind.

Spring is the time of rock and snow fall on Lofoten, so be careful in which routes you choose in the next weeks.

Finally reaching the summit ridge, where the fun part begins, we traded trekking poles for ice axes and crampons. Progress was initially good, almost easier than hiking the route in Autumn, as I had done previously. That is until we ran into a steep section of rotten snow and ice. We searched for a way around, which led to a steep snow gully exiting with a couple of moves on icy rocks. It would have been possible to get up, but getting down could be problematic. And so after hours of effort, we turned around about 30 meters below the summit – where there was absolutely fantastic evening light.

To this point on the hike, I hadn’t even taken a single photo, as we had been in the shade the entire time, too much contrast to the bright blue sky. But as we descended back down to the ridge, the sun low and casting golden light across Ristind and the higher peaks of Lofoten, I saw an interesting composition: A lone figure against the sky.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 250
f 8
1/400 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #179 – Ytresand Midnight

Midnight Sun, Ytresand, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Midnight sky, Ytresand beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 30, 2016. 24:02

Since moving to Lofoten in March I have been receiving a lot of emails about what the current conditions on the Islands are and is so and so mountain okay to hike. Unfortunately, living on Lofoten still means I have to work, which mostly involves me sitting at the computer 14-16 hours a day. However, when the weather is nice, I do my best to make some time to get out and explore.

I think for the summer I will experiment with a bit of a change in the Friday Photo series. Instead of being a more or less ‘best of,’ I will try and keep the photos as recent as possible, so that you can see how the islands are looking over the last few weeks. Of course, being Lofoten, this can only be so accurate; I was in a t-shirt last week, while there is cold temperatures and fresh snow over the last couple days. But as summer progresses, I should hopefully show the general trend of what the Islands are looking like.

So, first up is midnight at Ytresand for a week ago. The midnight sun arrives on Lofoten in late May, and now the Islands are under 24 hour sunlight until mid July. I was surprised to come across 2 vans of a photo workshop at the beach – something which is rare outside of winter. But luckily, they seemed to be wandering mostly aimlessly across the beach, leaving me with this composition to myself. A layer of clouds was low on the horizon, softening the sun as it hung low on the horizon, yet the sky still had a nice glow and with no wind and low tide at Ytresand, this reflection worked out nicely.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
35mm
ISO 100
f 13
1/16 second
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #178 – Volandstind

Volandstind, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Spring hike on Volandstind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 31, 2016. 14:03

The midnight sun has arrived in the north with the snow is melting fast while the spread of green creeps higher and higher up the mountains. There have been some fantastic summer days in May thus far, and I’ve already complained of the heat on more than one occasion. Perhaps I didn’t more far enough north! 😉

But with summer just around the corner, it is now my time to head into the mountains over the next months and start gathering the data and photos for the next series of hiking guides and ebooks. And now that I’m getting more settled in to life on the islands, I’m finally beginning to realize that I don’t need to rush. There will be another sunny day and the sun won’t set for 6 more weeks.

Heading up Volandstind the other day the weather was a bit wild. Layers of cloud were spinning across the mountains and fjords – with the actual summit of Volandstind just in the cloud, unfortunately. However, the route up was mostly cloud free, which provided a spectacular overview across the surrounding, surreal looking landscape.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
28mm
ISO 100
f 7.1
1/600 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #177 – Kvalvika Beach

Kvalvika Beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Spring light over Kvalvika beach from Ryten, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 19, 2016. 20:37

May is the month of melting snow and the arrival of the midnight sun over Lofoten. Yet even in the near endless days, winter doesn’t always easily give up its grip over the islands, as experienced on this cold evening on Ryten, with knee deep snow which had fallen over the previous 2-3 days across the higher elevations of the islands. A couple days later, all was gone again.

Even with the sun in the sky for 24 hours as it begins today, the sun’s location in the sky is still an important element while photographing the islands. In my Seasons on Lofoten – Winter eBook I have gone into some detail about the movement of the winter sun and its influence on when to photograph certain locations, so perhaps in the coming days of summer, I will begin to write a bit more about the midnight sun.

Kvalvika beach as viewed from Ryten is a perfect example of this. Even though the sun might not set below the horizon and this sounds like a good location to watch the midnight sun, the beach actually receives the best light, shining directly into the bay, from about 19:00 – 23:00. When the sun reaches its low point on the horizon around 01:00, the beach will be left in shadow, due to the mountains shadowing it from the north.

So, if you’re planning to head up to Ryten for ‘sunset,’ go up a few hours earlier to get the light across the beach as well.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 320
f 10
1/250 seconds
WB Daylight
5 vertical image pano

Friday Photo #176 – Spring Aurora

April Northern Lights - Lofoten Islands

Photo: Spring Aurora, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 1, 2016. 22:03

This is the final image from my 2016 northern lights season on Lofoten – though there were some displays afterwards, so it wasn’t the last of Lofoten in general.

Overall, having been on Lofoten since early February, I would call in a below average northern lights season for me. There were many clear nights this February and March, but the sky seemed to be quite, something which can be quite frustrating while waiting on top of a mountain in otherwise perfect weather. Perhaps I’m just getting a little more picky in the images I want to create – simply seeing a faint green glow on the horizon no longer excites me – I want to creating dynamic and exciting images of the lights.

With the nights no longer dark, I’ll be eagerly waiting till autumn for my next chances of camping under the dancing sky.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
16mm
ISO 1250
f 4
25 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #175 – Andenes Whale Watching

Andenes Whale Watching

Photo: Whale watching, Andenes, Vesterålen, Norway. May 3, 2016. 19:30

Prior to the other week, I had only seen Andenes from the sea while on a sailing trip to Lofoten in 2014. So when the opportunity came up for me to go do some whale watching with Sea Safari Andenes, I hopped in the van and began the 5 hour drive north from Lofoten – It may look close on a map, but it is quite a ways up there!

I will be guiding a couple Lofoten and Andenes whale watching tours next year – some spots are still available for the January 2017 Muench Workshops tour – so I wanted to see what it was all about first.

Whales are in the area of Andenes year round, however in January and February there can be a bit more action when the killer whales are present. In the spring, it was Sperm whales, diving deep for squid a few kilometers off the coast. Despite what looked to me like a basically flat and open ocean, Marten, the guide, was able to find the first whale within about 20 minutes. And then several more were spotted in the following hours. The RIB boats are fast, and pretty fun in general, but also provide a good, low vantage point of the whale, helping to separate them from the sea as in this photo.

As I am not much of a wildlife photographer, the longest lens I have is a 79-200mm. And this image is a crop from that. I think a 200-400 would have been ideal for the trip I was on, though that won’t be in my budget anytime soon, unfortunately. However, for next winter, I’m hoping 200mm will be long enough for the faster and more active killer whales.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
200mm
ISO 200
f 4.5
1/1600 second
WB Daylight