Photo: Heading to Haukland beach on winter roads, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 6, 2012.  8:57

This week’s photo is more for illustrative purposes than of something scenic.  With more and more people planning on visiting the islands in winter, it can be a bit of a shock to drive on the roads for the first time, especially if you are like me, and grew up in a temperate climate.

While my experience on the European continent is that they tend to keep roads snow free in winter, either by plow or grit, in Lofoten, this is not overly practical.  In big storms, the roads are cleared of deep snow and snow drifts, but overall, there always remains a layer of snow and ice covering any asphalt.   To deal with these conditions, the Norwegians (and Swedes) utilize studded tires from November to April.

While not like driving on dry asphalt, the studded tires work amazingly well.  In my estimate, I would say they retain about 70% the traction level of normal tires on dry conditions.  For road conditions like in this photo, you can more or less drive normally (but be weary on sharp turns).

Where driving conditions become dangerous is when the temperatures warm to 2-6 degrees above freezing and it begins to rain.  This turns all the hard, compacted snow of the roads into a layer of wet ice.  Scary and slippery!  The road plows are good at dealing with this and will have the main roads gritted and ice free within a few hours.  But I would suggest minimizing your driving during this period if possible.  I have gotten stuck a few times where I pulled down into an icy parking area and was unable to drive back out without considerable effort on my part to clear away enough ice to get a bit of momentum built up.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 200
f 57.1
1/30 sec
WB Daylight

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

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