Friday Photo #150 – Storsandnes Beach Winter

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Winter twilight at Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter blue hour reflection at Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 19, 2015; 15:03

Friday photo #150 – Wow! Little more than a month away from 3 years of this. Not sure how I have managed, but I have. And I hope you guys have been finding these posts a useful look at what might exist behind an image, otherwise I’ve wasted a lot of time! 🙂

I’ve previously written about how I seem to have a regular rotation of locations I go over a series of years. For the past few years I have been visiting Storsandnes quite frequently. This image is from the final evening of a winter photo tour with Muench Workshops which I was guiding in January.  With a light dusting of fresh snow of the beach, we spent several hours from late afternoon until darkness.

I always think the winter blue hour on Lofoten has a special feel to it, especially as the mountains seem to glow so bright agains the sky, it is almost like they have their own light from within.

I have also chosen a beach image this week as I will hopefully announce the release of my 3rd Lofoten ebook in a few more days. Can you guess what it will be about? Did you guess Lofoten’s beaches?

I was intending for it to be a mini guide, but this wouldn’t have done proper justice to the variety of beaches which Lofoten has. And then including images from winter, summer, spring, and autumn, the book is now over 130 photos and over 12,000 words for the first draft. So it’s looking like it might be my biggest book yet!

PS: If you’re on my email list you will get a 25% discount for a limited time… 🙂

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
42mm
f 13
ISO 40
2.5 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #148 – Hustinden

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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

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Friday Photo #144 – Hustind Midnight Sun

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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

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Friday Photo #143 – Hustind

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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

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Friday Photo #131 – Myrland Summer

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Myrland, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Midnight light and summer fields, Myrland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 6, 2015. 23:56

Sleep in near impossible for a photographer on Lofoten in Summer, more so if the light is good. After a couple consecutive days in the mountains, I was feeling a bit lazy and looking for something coastal to photograph.

I had been out to Myrland earlier in the evening, with some nice light on this field and barn – which is the shot that is the cover of my Seasons on Lofoten – Summer eBook. After that, I drove back down the road to Storsandnes and found a place to park for the night.  But as I finished dinner and the hours passes, I wasn’t content with the scene in front of me, the sea just wasn’t calm or stormy enough. Before heading off the another beach, I decided just to checkout Myrland one last time. The light was better than before!

I arrived a few minutes before midnight, as the sun was breaking through some clouds. The mountains had a wonderful warm light shining on them and the wind was still quite calm.  I knelt down in the field just on the edges of the flowers and got completely wet from the soggy ground, but no matter when the light is nice.

Normally I don’t photograph such rural scenes very often, but somehow, this photo says ’summer on Lofoten’ to me and is one of my favorite images from this past trip.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
70mm
ISO 250
f 5
1/125 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #130 – Hustind Winter

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Hustind Winter Hike, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Climbing Hustind in winter, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 21, 2015.  13:18

Hustind is one of those peaks that I’ve driven by dozens of times, always thinking I need to hike it sometime, yet always pass it by for some other objective.  Finally, on a stormy February day after my friend Till joined me from Norway, we figured the peak would be a good warmup for things to come.

As we ascended towards the summit, we were under constant threat of the next wave of snow approaching from the south.  The higher we got, the closer the clouds.  But even then, a faint sun would break through from time to time, adding a bit of contrast to the otherwise cold and barren landscape.

One on the summit, the snow arrived within a few minutes and we had to descent in a near total whiteout, luckily with our footprints to follow…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
16mm
ISO 250
f 8
1/500 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #126 – Storsandnes Twilight

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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

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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

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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

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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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