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Friday Photo #126 – Storsandnes Twilight

Storsandnes beach in winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter twilight at Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 20, 2015.  14:35

I had shot Storsandnes in fantastic light at dusk on the previous evening, yet as the light began to fade on this day, something drew me back here again.

The light was similar to the previous afternoon with the soft pinks and blues as the earth’s shadow passes through the sky prior to the arrival of night.  But there were some gently moving clouds beginning to appear, something to add balance to the sky.

Though this image is fairly similar to several others that I have taken at Storsandnes, there is something more interesting here than in any of the others.  I’m not sure if it’s the simplicity of the composition or the subtleness of the color, but it is one of my favorite images from the winter of 2015.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 4mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 31
f 13
90 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop neutral density filter

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Friday Photo #104 – Storsandnes Northern Lights

Lofoten Islands Northern Lights

Photo: Northern Lights over Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 16, 2014.  22.10

Wow – it’s 2015!  And even more wow, this photo marks the 2 year anniversary since I started this Friday Photo series, mostly as a way to keep adding something fresh to the website when I otherwise had nothing else to add.  Hopefully I have enough words for anther two years…

Here’s another aurora image from the same night as Friday Photo #100.  I like Storsandnes as an area for auroras as the horizon is fairly open, giving you a decent overview of what the northern lights might be doing, allowing me to make the decision to stay or head someplace else with a better composition.

On this night, I had been contentedly sitting around the campfire we had made, so I decided to stay and just enjoy the night.  I set my little Fuji XT-1 up on some rocks to take a time-lapse sequence, then set about grabbing a few images myself.

When the auroras began, there was still enough glow on the horizon to add a bit of light to the overall scene.  One of the difficulties of shooting in autumn, and when the moon is not out, is the darkness of the land.  Without winter’s snow covering the mountains, the nighttime autumn landscape easily becomes nothing more than black silhouettes agains the sky, something which I’m not all that fond of, to tell the truth.

Yet, with day’s light still fading, the added color and brightness helps separate the horizon, adding a bit of depth to the scene which is otherwise lost as the sky grows darker…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1000
f 3.5
25 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #103 – Clouds and Light

Stornappstind, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Rays of light over Napp from Stornappstind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 21, 2014.  14:38

Stornappstind is one of those mountains that I’ve driven by dozens of times and always think to myself, ‘I should hike up there soon.’  Yet that soon never seems to arrive.  But finally on this trip, the mountain found it’s place near the top of my ‘to hike’ list.

As morning arrived a cold wind was blowing from the east.  It had been several days since my last hike, and at other times I probably would have skipped going out on a day such as it was, but I was too restless to sit around.

Leaving the hostel in Stamsund, I still wasn’t sure which mountain to hike.  But with the strong wind, and at times rain and snow blowing across the islands, I though something on a western facing slope would offer the best shelter for most of the way up.  Stornappstind fit the description, and so I headed to the parking area.

Climbing higher up the mountain I was relieved when snow, rather than rain began to fall in wave after wave of passing clouds and wind.  And then it would clear and rays of light would break through the clouds and dance across the land below…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
38mm
ISO 200
f 131/100 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #100 – Campfire Aurora

Campfire and Northern Lights, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Beach side campfire and Northern Lights, Storsandnes, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 16, 2014.  22:48

After two nights in the mountains I was sort of looking forward to a shower.  But unfortunately for us, the forecast was for another night of clear skies, so instead of the warming fire and soft bed of the Stamsund hostel, it was to be a night sleeping in the car.

A couple weeks earlier I had gotten in brief contact with Theo and Bee, a British couple traveling around Europe in their VW van – checkout their website and blog at VDubVanLife.  Anyhow, I sent them a text to see if they were up for an afternoon BBQ and campfire. They were.

Seeing as how we were both were sleeping in our vehicles, I figured Storsandnes would be a decent location – a good place for a BBQ, and if any northern lights decided to show up, a pretty good spot as well.

I love the month of September for its somewhat rare combination of (relatively) mild nights combined with long hours of darkness.  The only equivalent darkness you will find is in March, when you generally don’t want to spend all that much time outdoors.

As evening progressed, I decided we couldn’t carry on without a campfire, so Theo and I scoured the coast to collect driftwood for our campfire.  Luckily, this is an area seldom camped in, so there was plenty of wood to be found, enough for two nights of campfires as it turned out.

We sat around enjoying the fire for a while, but soon enough, I noticed that faint green glow in the sky; the horizon still carrying the colors of the day’s end.  At that point, the photographer kicks in and any enjoyment of the campfire disappears.  Well, that was until Theo and I thought the girls sitting around the fire with northern lights above would make for a nice photo.  And then proceeded to tell them to ‘sit still’ for the next 20 or so minutes…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 2500
f 3.2
15 seconds
WB Daylight

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New Mountain Hiking Route – Stornappstinden

Hiking Stornappstind, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Hiker on the summit of Stornappstinden (740 meters), Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

I have added a new hiking page for Stornappstind, a 740 meter high peak located above the village of Napp, on the eastern edge of Flakstadøy.

STORNAPPSTINDEN HIKING GUIDE

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I’m finally back from my autumn travels.  Next week I’ll probably post a brief summary of my trip, with more updates and hiking guides in the following weeks as I get images processed and words written.  Overall, I got up a few new peaks and had many nights filled with northern lights.  Not to mention the sailing trip.  Lots of stuff to come…  And only two months until I’m back on Lofoten in mid January to Guide a photo tour for Muench Workshops!

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Friday Photo #90 – Myrland Beach Sunset

Scenic Myrland beach, Flakstadoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Myrland beach sunset, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Sept 1, 2013.  20:24

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but Myrland has become one of my favorite beaches in the last couple years.  Perhaps I’ve just become over saturated by the other beaches (as nice as they are) or perhaps I like it because it is still a relatively seldom visited places and I will likely find the sand free of footprints, even on a sunny evening.

Normally I would have tried to pick a more mountainous location for a sunset such as this, but a few days before, I had sprained my ankle while hiking down from Ryten at Kvalvika beach.  So I wasn’t exactly in any position to be hiking up mountains.  And it was trouble enough just getting down to the beach.  Not to mention that I like to stand a little too close to the water, which on this day, meant I had to painfully hobble out of the way of incoming waves at just the last minute.

Perhaps I would have been a little more tolerant of pain were I not planning to begin a hike into Sweden’s Sarek national park just 10 days after this photo, so my ankle needed all the rest it could get.  Though I ended up dropping my camera in a lake just one day into that hike, so my autumn didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3,5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 9.5
1.3 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom
B+W 6 stop neutral density filter

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Friday Photo #74 – Myrland Beach

Waves wash over snow covered sand in winter at Myrland beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Winter dawn at Myrland beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 2, 2014.  09:14

I still hadn’t quite gotten my timings quite right, but I was expecting to see a glow beginning to appear on the horizon as I lifted my head from the sleeping bag.  Instead, my first morning on Lofoten arrived in the swirling darkness of snow.  Snow!  I knew the islands were having a lean year thus far, so it was an unexpected, and un-forcasted, surprise after arriving on the islands the previous afternoon.  I did not know it at the time, but in 6 weeks on Lofoten this year (2014), this would be one of the rare times I saw snow fall.

I left Utakleiv, where I had spent the night sleeping in my rental car and drove into the morning darkness.  I was not sure how big of a storm I was in, but by the direction of the wind, I figured Myrland or Storsandnes beaches would be the best locations to shoot away from the wind if the storm continued past sunrise.  Pulling up at Storsandnes I could see nothing but black beyond the glow of my headlights.  Time for breakfast I guess.

After an hour the snow began to lighten and I could begin to see something of a horizon, dark and grey, emerging from the distance.  I headed to Myrland and negotiated the icy trail down to the beach just as the last snowflakes were beginning to clear.

The beach was covered in a delicate layer of snow, barely cold enough to keep from melting.  An incoming tide of gentle waves was washing against the snow line as the world grew brighter while snow covered rocks formed white islands in the blue sea.

I feel there is alway a delicate balance for snow covered beaches:  you want an incoming tide at dawn after an overnight coating of snow.  If the tide had been high when the snow fell, then it leaves too much of a transition between the snow line and the water line.  This morning I was lucky, and found a near perfect balance of conditions.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 160
f 8
30 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

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Friday Photo #72 – Winter Mountain Light

Winter sunset illuminates snow covered mountain peaks, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Winter sunset over mountains, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 9, 2014.  15:35

This week’s image is not something spectacular, but more to illustrate wonderful light that I was in the wrong place for.  Other than the light, the image is rather boring as I feel there is no focus or subject to the scene.  From the position I was at, and with quickly changing light, It was all I could do at the moment.

By late afternoon, it had become evident that there might be some nice light for sunset.  But how nice it became was truly unexpected by me, as it appeared there would be some clouds on the horizon, blocking out the final moments of light as is generally quite common on Lofoten.  But instead of fading, the light just kept growing and growing in intensity, lighting the cloudy sky in bright orange and pink while casting a brilliant light across the mountain peaks.

In mid to late winter, the sun sets over the ‘end’ of the islands in a southwestwardly direction.  This makes getting a direct view of the light with a scenic composition a sometimes challenging task.  It is already too west for anything around Reine, yet not high enough for any of the beaches on Vestvågøy.

Ideally, I would have positioned myself on top of Ryten or perhaps Offersøykammen, but it would have been impossible to know this at the time.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 50
f 8
1/25 second
WB Daylight
3 images – left, centre, right

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Friday Photo #69 – Winter Tree

Lone winter tree silhouetted against mountain sunset, near Fredvang, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Tree silhouette, near Fredvang, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 4, 2014.  14:27

For the month of May I be focusing on panoramic images for each week’s Friday Photo.  I don’t shoot as many panos as I used to, I tend to go square more often than not these days, but they still make up a sizeable portion of my work.

Heavy rain had soaked the islands during the previous 24 hours.  But as the storm cleared and morning passed into afternoon the islands grew still and quiet.  A light layer of cloud filled the sky, giving a warm glow to the low winter sun.  The mood felt almost tropical, as low, misty clouds hugged mountains and filled valleys.  The silhouettes of the distant mountains looked more like something out of China – the place where you see all those images of the cormorant fishermen guys.

The shoreline wasn’t as scenic as I was hoping, but the light was interesting enough that I thought it would be a waste not to take any photos.  While I would have preferred snow, I found the silhouette of this tree to be somewhat interesting to create an image that isn’t stereotypically ‘Lofoten’ looking.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/250 second
WB Daylight
3 images – left, centre, right

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Friday Photo #49 – Northern Lights Over Himmeltindan

Northern Lights shine in sky over sea and mountains of Vestvagoy, from near Myrland, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights over Himmeltindan from Myrland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  24 September, 2013.  22:54

After waiting two weeks for a new Nikon D800 camera to arrive, having dropped dropped it in a lake in Sweden, I lucked out at had a good display of Northern Lights on my first night back in action.  There had been some good displays in the previous weeks, but this was the best thus far, and I would have probably been quite grumpy had my camera arrived the following morning.

The main element I find missing while shooting the Northern Lights in autumn is snow.  There is just something a little less magical, but perhaps that’s just me.  It can also be a bit of a struggle sometimes to get yourself away from any coastal lights, as pretty much the whole population of Lofoten is on the coast.  And then, with the unpredictability of where the Northern Lights will actually appear in the sky (if they do at all), you often have to take a gamble on a composition that may or may not come into form.

This shot was my backup location.  I had originally intended to shoot from the beach at Myrland, giving me a nice clean view across to Vestvågøy, but the lights where too high in the sky to include both beach and Auroras in the image.  So I quickly hopped back in the car  and headed back down the road a way to a location where I had a slightly better overall composition.

I still think the empty sea is a little on the boring side, but at least the Aurora seems to be emerging from the summit of Himmeltindan, the highest mountain on Vestvågøy, so that kind of makes the image work for me.

Another think of note.  This image is from a night with a nearly full moon.  I often see the (incorrect) opinion floating around the internet that you need a moonless sky to see the Northern Lights.  This is simply not true.  And if fact, I think having some moonlight, to help illuminate the foreground, especially with winter snow, actually makes for a better image.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 800
f 5.6
30 sec
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

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