Winter | 68 North

Friday Photo #221 – Skjelfjord Aurora

Photo: Northern Lights over Skjelfjord, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2017. 22:56

Today is the last day of March, and with that, soon it will be the end of the aurora season here on Lofoten. Though there are still a couple weeks left, so don’t fear, if you just arrived!

Each day, the sun continues its journey to the north, the days growing by around 1 hour per week. And with the clocks having changed last weekend, I found myself driving home at dusk last night, only to look at my watch as see that it was almost 9:00 pm! And I hadn’t had dinner yet…

For photography, the days are getting long if you want sunrise, sunset, and northern lights all in the same day. However for life here in the north, it is perfect! The mountains are covered in snow and there is enough time to get up some pretty decent peaks during the week for those with normal working hours.

Back to the photo. I saw the aurora out my window, which from my house in Skjelfjord, doesn’t happen all that often due to the high mountains surrounding me. I headed out to drive around a little, but the aurora was glowing in a way that it filled almost the entire sky, and almost looked fake really – like I had just turned some clouds green in Photoshop! So I wasn’t really happy with anything I captured, until I drove home and parked in my driveway.

The aurora was beginning to increase a bit again, and with the fjord perfectly calm, the reflections were nice. So I walked over to a small jetty near my house and shot for a while. The lack of moonlight meant light pollution was something of an issue. But luckily the aurora was strong enough to overpower most of it, keeping the mountains greenish instead of mercury-lamp orange.

And the same as the aurora season is soon ending, so will my view of these mountains. I have exciting news that I will write about late.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1600
f 3.2
8 seconds
WB Daylight

March 31, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter

Friday Photo #220 – Unstad Twilight

Photo: Twilight view over Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 3, 2017. 17:45

The original plan had been to head to another mountain on skis, but as we approached the route, there was far to little snow, so we headed for plan b, Kleivheia. The sun was already sinking into the horizon as we were halfway up the steep couloir, slowed by deep snow and some issues with my knee, which I injured skiing a couple weeks earlier. But the weather was too good to stay out of the mountains and rest, as I probably should have!

Arriving at the summit plateau, a fresh breeze was blowing and the sky was now filled with a beautiful winter twilight. Perfect! I stayed around and shot some images as the sky darkened and the village lights below became more prominent.

Then it was off to find a flat place for camp, not that easy of a task! And begin the wait for aurora, which would be filling the sky a few hours later.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
19mm
ISO 100
f 10
.5 second
WB Daylight

March 24, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter

Friday Photo #219 – Unstad Beach

Photo: Outflowing waves on Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 21, 2017. 10:08

While the storm of the previous days had mostly calmed, the weather was still anything but good and snow was forecast for the afternoon. Mornings are easy in January, with the late arrival of the sun allowing for plenty of sleep, or time to get to destinations. Having been to several other beaches the previous day, Unstad was on the list for this morning.

Arriving, the beach was nice enough looking and near low tide. The wind was offshore and the waves were big enough to create some nice action among the rocks. The sky, well, that left something to be desired and it was evident there would be no color on this morning. So, working with what I had, the waves and rocks were the best subject, with just a little bit of the holy mountain in the scene for a sense of place.

I knew I wanted a relatively short shutter speed to capture both movement of the water yet still retaining some detail and shape. Too slow and there will just be a haze of white. Too fast and there wont be any movement or flow. The white of the water and the black of the rocks created enough contrast in the otherwise completely flat light.

Overall this is nothing special, but I think it made the best of otherwise poor conditions – which there have been a lot of this winter!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 50
f 14
1.3 second
WB Daylight

March 17, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Winter

Friday Photo #218 – Ryten Aurora

Photo: Northern Lights fill sky from summit of Ryten, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 2, 2017. 19:54

My plan for the day had just been some easy afternoon ski touring with some friends. However, as I was heading into Leknes run some errands, and with a good aurora forecast for the evening, I knew I had to be up in the mountains at night. So I quickly headed home and packed my bag for a night in the mountains. The sun was low on the horizon as I began my way up Ryten.

What had been calm weather down below was a pretty strong wind up high – I think I’ve only been on Ryten once when it wasn’t windy. Arriving at the summit in evening twilight, I attempted to set up my tent. Unfortunately, in my haste of packing, I had forgotten the guy lines with my other tent. So after a bit of testing, it became obvious that I wouldn’t be sleeping on the mountain this night.

Too cold and windy just to sit around, I found a slightly sheltering rock and pulled out my sleeping pad and sleeping bag to sit in while waiting for the sky to darken. Seeming just after I took my boots off and got in the bag, I noticed a faint glow of green beginning to appear, the sky not even dark yet. I waited around a bit longer before getting out again.

By now, around 19:00, a nice green arch was crossing the twilight sky. Some time later, things really got active and the aurora was so bright that I could have walked down the mountain without needing a headlamp! It was simply huge, bright, and dancing across the sky in every direction. One of the best displays I have ever seen.

Unfortunately though, I don’t think the composition quite worked for Ryten on this evening, and my main original plan had been for the aurora over Kvalvika, but they didn’t appear much in that direction. This is always the gamble with northern lights – they might not show up where you want them to, even if they are otherwise spectacular!

This image consists of two photos, one for the foreground and one for the sky. I found this necessary, as point just towards the sky left not enough compositional elements in the foreground, just some vague snowy hills of no apparent importance. And point down for a nice composition of the landscape left out too much of the sky.

Overall, it is an image that took a bit of effort, and the aurora was fantastic. But I probably might have gotten something better compositionally had I just gone to one of the beaches. Though there were probably hundreds of other photographers down there all shooting the same thing, so at least I captured something somewhat more unique.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 2000
f 3.2
3 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top/bottom

March 10, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Winter

Friday Photo #217 – Bunes Aurora

Photo: Northern Lights over Bunes beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 6, 2017. 19:43

Photographing the northern lights over Bunes beach is an something I have tried to do several times over the last years, and despite otherwise perfect conditions, I was always unsuccessful. So Finally, in early February I decided to make another attempt, and at last, got something close to what I was looking for.

Unfortunately though, the winter thus far had been warm and rather snow-less. Thus, the scene looks more like April, than the middle of winter!

I timed the trip to be around the full moon, needing the light to illuminate the landscape so it would be more than just a dark silhouette against the horizon. And with the bright moonlight, I was able to keep the shutter speed fast and the ISO relatively low. Though the aurora was not too active this night, so a longer shutter speed would have been okay.

Perhaps I will make another attempt before the winter is over, though with a somewhat full schedule, and some plans for bigger mountains, I’m not sure it will happen. But it is always good to have plans for the future, so this is something I will likely work on for years to come…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1600
f 3.5
6 seconds
WB Daylight

March 3, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Winter

Friday Photo #216 – Reine Winter Dawn

Photo: Winter dawn over Reine, Vindstad, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 6, 2017. 09:29

This weeks photo is not so much about the image, but more about the importance of location in winter. Or to say it another way, if you want to see sunrise or sunset in winter, it is important that you know where you are going.

In the first week of February I took the ferry to Vindstad and Bunes beach for a couple nights of camping as the weather forecast was good and I was hoping for some northern lights over the beach at night. However, snow conditions were unfortunately quite thin, giving a much more spring like look than that of the fleshly snow covered landscape. But that is beyond my control.

Even a full month after the sun has returned to Lofoten, it still remains quite far to the south and still relatively low in the sky. From my location for sunrise each morning, I would see the sun rise over the mountains of the distant mainland around 09:00 and by around 09:25, the sun was disappearing behind Reinebringen – gone for the day! Bunes beach itself received no direct sunlight during this time, while the mountains high above would have sun at various points through the afternoon and until sunset.

So that was it, 25 or some minutes of direct sunlight each day while I was camping. Not very much!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
150mm
ISO 100
f 9
1/125 second
WB Daylight

February 24, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Winter

Friday Photo #215 – Winter Storm

Photo: Approaching winter storm over Reinefjord, Valen, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 15, 2016. 14:14

Another day of passing clouds and snow sweeping over Lofoten out of the north. After the clear, calm and silent winter days of endless twilight glow, these stormy days are perhaps my next favorite.

I love standing in the sunlight and watching a wall of cloud slowly, or not so slowly, coming towards me. Soon the distant mountains begin to disappear and then the winds slowly begin to increase as the first few snowflakes begin to arrive. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the wind can hit you like a hammer! I have almost lost a few cameras in these moments in previous years, so I try and remain a bit more cautious these days.

The fjord in this photo was stormy, but not stormy enough for my taste. Thus, I used a 6 stop ND filter for a 10 second exposure, which was manageable during low points in the breeze so as not to shake my camera too much. But after not too much longer, the distant mountains were gone, hidden behind the clouds and the scene lost balance. As I was packing my back, the snow hit with a fury.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
42mm
ISO 50
f 14
10 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop ND filter

February 17, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Flakstadøya, Friday Photo, Winter

Friday Photo #214 – Skagsanden Winter

Photo: Dusting of snow on Skagsanden beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 14, 2016. 11:10

In the last years one typically has to arrive first thing in the morning at any of the beaches to find them with a fresh, clean layer of snow before it has been walked across numerous times. Yet, on stormy winter days, with passing waves of snow sweeping across the islands, the beaches often get a nice reset to new conditions.

This particular days was a rather stormy one. The trick is to get to the location you want to shoot while it is still snowing and just wait until the clouds begin to pass. Just as the weather passed I headed down to the beach to look for something interesting.

The snow covering was light, and not interesting enough to me for that dramatic snowy beach look. However, as one approached the sea, the various layers began to form a nice pattern across the beach. I though this would make a nice leading line for the foreground, bringing the eye towards Hustind in the background.

Soon the next wave of clouds arrived and snow was sweeping across the beach again…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 13
4 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop ND filter
2 images – top, bottom

February 10, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

Friday Photo, Moskenesøya, Winter

Friday Photo #213 – Ytresand Winter

Photo: Approaching winter storm over Ytresand beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 28, 2016. 09:09

Another morning which started out quite colorful yet soon became consumed by a massive wave of snow approaching from the north. It is like watching a wall of darkness sweep across the land until finally there is nothing to see, just the details that are visible immediately in front of you as snow swirls around in the gusting wind.

I had already been on the beach for around 40 minutes by the time I took this image. The best shots had already been taken, but I liked the mood and simplicity of this scene which was quickly developing before me.

The shallow pool of water on the beach at low tide is what makes this image work. Had it been high tide, and thus no reflection, I probably would not have taken a photo, as the scene would have felt out of balance with a large presence of water, either normal exposure or long exposure, in the foreground. But the reflection helps balance the negative space of the dark clouds with the brightness of the remaining mountains and sky.

This is not an award winning image by any means, but a good representation of a brief moment in time of what winter on Lofoten is.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
4 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop ND filter

February 3, 2017/1 Comment/by Cody

Flakstadøya, Friday Photo, Winter

Friday Photo #212 – Flakstadpollen Winter

Photo: Snow formations in Flakstadpollen at low tide, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 16, 2016. 15:35

A day that had started with brilliant color (see Friday Photo 183) ended with the typical winter blue of heavy clouds over the snowy winter landscape.

With a heavy amount of snowfall in west Lofoten over the previous days, I had seen the possibly for this scene to form a few days previously. But with other places to go in better light, it had to wait for the right time. And more importantly, the right tide.

So in the fading darkness of late afternoon, I headed east from Ramberg to see if my intuition was correct. And it was. Often this area fills with cool and interesting ice formations, but the snow, which had partially melted away during the incoming tides, gave a slightly different look to the scene and interesting elements to use as a foreground.

The scene was utter chaos though, something which I don’t always work well with. So it took some time to find a composition that I felt wasn’t too busy and had a bit of direction to it. I’m not 100% sure if I succeeded, but I think the final result turned out ok.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 100
f 14
1/8 second
WB Daylight

January 27, 2017/0 Comments/by Cody

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