Friday Photo #184 – Ramberg Beach

Friday Photo 184 - Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Ramberg beach from Nubben, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 29, 2016. 18:55

I’m slowly working on my next Lofoten ebook, and the view from Nubben, will be part of it. A small rock outcropping rising above Ramberg, there are fantastic views over Ramberg beach – also if you hike out to the edge of the mountain on the right side of the photo.

I would not label myself a typical landscape photographer, who typically only shoots in dramatic light with the sun low on the horizon. I like to shoot everything! And sometimes, a summer day is just a nice time to be out, it needs a clear blue sky and bright light. I often label these days ‘too good for photos days.’ Days when it’s simply enough to sit outside and enjoy the weather, and maybe get a little sunburn in the 24 hours of daylight.

For this site, I think it’s important to show some ‘normal’ sides of Lofoten. Too often I get shown examples of once-in-a-decade lighting conditions, with the person wondering when they can shoot such photos. It creates a bit of an unrealistic goal for someone to achieve in a week, much less a couple of day, which could very well rain the whole time!

For this image, I really should have been up the mountain a bit earlier – the clouds were slow to burn off.  The sun is just off camera to the left in this scene. It works okay here, however, as I headed out to the edge of the hill, forcing me to shoot more left, any decent compositions became too backlit, with the sun in the corner of the frame. One of two hours earlier would have been better in this particular case

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
35mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/250 second
WB Daylight
4 image panoramic

Friday Photo #182 – Flakstadøy

Friday Photo 182 - Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Summer afternoon over Flakstadøy, Ramberg, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 29, 2016. 19:13

After a week of mostly grey and misty weather, proper summer returned to Lofoten on Wednesday afternoon. Though the forecast called for the low clouds to clear by early afternoon, the clouds remained quite localized, even after midnight, with some peaks perfectly clear while the next range of mountains were completely hidden.

In such conditions, it is not always easy to choose where to go. As I initially though about going up Røren, I was glad to have changed my mind to Nubben, the small hill above Ramberg, as Røren quickly became lost in a sea of clouds for the remainder of the evening.

I normally don’t like roads in my images, but somehow this photo just feels like summer on Lofoten to me as it is a good summary of what the islands are at this time of year.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-240mm f/2.8
20mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/250 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #181 – Hestraeva

Hestraeva - Lofoten Islands

Photo: Five minutes till midnight on the summit of Hestræva, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 5, 2016. 23:55

The summer solstice has now passed us and the sun will once again begins its journey south. However, here on Lofoten, we have several more weeks of the midnight sun until it once again sinks below the horizon in mid July. The term Midnight sun, while romantic sounding, isn’t quite accurate. While the sun is above the horizon at midnight, the lowest point isn’t until near 01:00, and it remains well above the horizon even then. Summer on Lofoten is a sun that never sets.

This image is from a few weeks back in early June while spending a still evening on the summit of Hestræva. A light layer of cloud was hovering over the northern horizon, casting a soft, golden sunlight as the sun grew low on the horizon.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
38mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/30 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #180 – Munken

Friday Photo 180 - Munken

Photo: View over Fjerddalsvatnet towards Munken, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 10, 2016. 23:31

Friday saw me joining some others on an exploration hike to Støvla on Moskenesøy. We reached a high point around 750 but being off route and with substantial amounts of snow covering the high country, we turned around late in the evening – no worries about darkness in June though!

Descending towards a good spot to camp we found the correct route towards the mountain. However, snow conditions above made the route overly dangerous, so we didn’t continue on.

Spring and early summer is one of the most dangerous periods on Lofoten as the mountains begins to thaw out and substantial amounts of snow and rockfall can suddenly occur – often unseen from somewhere above.

In this image, you can see the large chunks of snow and ice on the slabby rocks in the foreground, which had fallen off the mountain in recent days/weeks. And on the popular peak of Munken, rising on the opposite side of lake Fjerddalsvatnet, you can still see a large amount of snow covering portions of the hiking route.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 200
f 13
1/60 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #151 – Bunes Beach Sunrise

Colorful sunrise over mountains at Bunes Beach, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Colorful summer sunrise at Bunes beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 17, 2013; 04:45

After having nearly slept in – see Friday Photo #44 for a bit more backstory – my second morning on Lofoten presented me with one of the most colorful sunrises I have seen while on the Islands. My only regret is that I was up on Helvetestind the previous morning, which would have been an absolutely fantastic location for light like this, but Bunes beach was a close 2nd!

It was one of those moments where there is almost too much light, not that I’m complaining! Making it a little difficult to concentrate and the actual scene you are photographing when there is so much around to look at.  And then I wonder how many compositions I have time for before the light runs out. Luckily, I had a second camera which I balanced on a rock to shoot a time-lapse sequence – which you can see as the opening sequence of my ‘Northern Light’ video.

I returned to my tent with a small across my face on this morning. It was a good start to another Lofoten trip. Though this was slightly made up for with the storm that blew over during the afternoon/night as I headed over to Horseid beach.

I know I mentioned it yesterday, but I have now released my 3rd Lofoten ebook: Beaches of Lofoten. While my first two books focused on the seasons, this book is a location guide to the fantastic beaches of Lofoten, Bunes being on the the best.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
52mm
f 13
ISO 50
.5 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #148 – Hustinden

Mountain landscapes from the summit of Hustind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Snowy summit of Hustinden on summer night, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands. June 12, 2015; 22:31

I’ve already posted a couple other Friday Photos of Hustinden, but here’s one more. Though today it’s a little more relevant as I just released a new hiking guide for this mountain.

Checkout the guide HERE.

When I first hiked/climbed Hustind a few months earlier in February, I imagined it would be a good place to return to and camp on a nice summer evening for some midnight sun photography – but more so, that I just like camping on mountains peaks, as I’m too lazy to get up early to hike up for sunrise. However on my June trip this year I had a few other mountains that were priorities for some new ebooks and other stuff, so I never had the time for that nice summer evening. I did have time though for a miserably cold (i.e. snowing) night with the summit in and out of the clouds, near constant snow flurries and a bitterly cold wind.

And so while I was braving the elements on the Summit, I could see the folks down in Ramberg enjoying a bit of nice evening sunlight.  But even so, I’d still rather be in the mountains…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
f 10
ISO 125
1/20 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #147 – Haukland Beach

Haukland beach in summer and winter, Lofoten Islands, Noway

Photo: Haukland beach summer and winter, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 23, 2015; 13:24 – June 3, 2015; 14:43

I thought I’d show something a little different this week.  This images is more of a happy accident than something I intentionally planned; I stood on top of Mannen two times this year and took the same picture twice: once in winter, once in summer.

I thought this would be a cool way to show how different the same location can look just a few months apart.  I have been receiving a lot of emails lately asking for the ‘best’ time to go, and this is something I struggle to answer. Is winter better than summer? I don’t know. If you want to hike, enjoy the midnight sun, camp at Kvalvika, etc, then summer is better.  If you want bleak, abstract landscapes, chances of northern lights, and short, atmospheric days, then winter is better. I guess in a round about way, and the way my journey has taken me, you just have to see the islands at every time of year; every season is different and unique in its own way.

So which view do you like better: summer or winter?

Camera Info: winter
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
21mm
f 8
ISO 200
1/320 second
WB Daylight

 

Friday Photo #145 – Unstad Summer

Summer view over Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Summer over Unstad, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  June 5, 2015. 22:00

It is always hard to decide how long to wait around the mountains. The light of the midnight sun is on of the main draws of summer on Lofoten, but a relatively cloudy horizon such as this day, you might not end up getting any light as the sun hovers over the sea. So, if you’re wanting better odds of sunlight on your scene, you need to head up a bit early. In this case, I left the car around 19:00 – with plans not to return until 02:00 at the earliest.

It was a 1 hour hike up the ridge towards Nonstind (see hiking guide HERE) to get to this view point. By the time I arrived, there was still enough gaps in clouds to allow brief moments of golden light to shine across the beach and valley below.  Soon enough though, the clouds thickened and Unstad was left in shadow for the remainder of the night.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
17mm
ISO 160
f 8
1/320 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #144 – Hustind Midnight Sun

Mountain landscapes from the summit of Hustind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Midnight sunset as storm clears over the summit of Hustind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 12, 2015. 23:49

By the time of this image I had been waiting several cold hours on the summit of Hustind. My feet were wet from the hike in, and there was a near constant, sideways blowing, heavy and wet snow streaking across the summit. But I was focused on waiting for some light. I gave myself until midnight for conditions to improve, then I would head down and search for light elsewhere.

I had packed my gear away and was getting ready to head down when I sensed an easing of the storm. And then suddenly, the snow stopped and the clouds cleared from the summit. I could snow see the world around me.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
17mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/25 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #143 – Hustind

Mountain landscapes from the summit of Hustind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Low clouds from the summit of Hustind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 12, 2015. 22:54

My first trip up Hustind was in February, where I had a few seconds to take in the view before being caught in the white-out of a snow storm. In those brief views, I imagined the summit would be a nice place to watch the midnight sun from. Fast forward to June.

With low clouds, I knew the 600 meter summit of Hustind would be a bit of a risk, but it was the last day of my trip with any sort of a decent forecast before conditions deteriorated for the rest of my time on Lofoten. In the late evening, with snow falling around me I began to make my way across the boggy ground the the mountain.

I arrived at the summit with wet feet, and most of the ascent having been made under heavily falling snow. The winds on top were bitterly cold, somehow I had found worse conditions in June than I experienced in February!

The summit was just in the cloud line, but on rare occasions the cloud with lift slightly allowing a bit on the midnight sun to be observed before sending me back into the darkness again.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-700mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 200
f 10
1/250 second
WB Daylight