Friday Photo #68 – Northern Lights Over Vik

Northern Lights over Vik beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Northern Lights over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 1, 2014.  22:45

The journeys from California to Lofoten are always long, and I always arrive thinking of the soonest possibility I can lie down flat on a bed, or in this case, the back of my rental car.  I also made the mistake of arriving on the islands on a Saturday, which is never a good idea, as it meant a long wait in Leknes for my bus to Stamsund, where I would pick up my car.

It was early afternoon when I pulled up to the parking area at Utakleiv beach, folded down the backs seats to the car and crawled into my sleeping bag.  I was soon asleep.

Some hours later the slamming of a car door followed by some somewhat loud voices woke me from my slumber.  It was dark.  I wiped a clear spot from the fogged up windows to see if I could see if the stars were out.  Shit, even better, Auroras!  A faint green arch hanging over the beach and mountains.  I quickly dressed, prepared myself for the cold, then hopped out of the car and went down to the beach, the lights now getting brighter.

I shot for a while at the beach, but I noticed the stronger parts seemed to be coming from behind the mountains to the left, so I quickly headed back to the car and drove a few km to the beach at Vik, more of less just around the corner from Utakleiv, and giving a much more open view to the western part of the sky.

Barely have put my camera back on the tripod the sky lit up, from the horizon, fully overhead, and then behind me.  Even at 15mm, this image only captures part of the overall scene.  Not a bad way to arrive on the islands!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 1250
f 4
30 seconds
WB Daylight

 

Friday Photo #67 – Winter Sunrise

Cod Stockfish hang to dry in cold winter air, Toppøya, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Winter sunrise and empty cod racks, Toppøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 3, 2014.  09:20

My second morning on Lofoten and the wind was screaming in from the south, cold and bitter; I had not quite gotten used to the north yet, having been in t-shirt and shorts just a few days earlier in California.

There was a clear spot on the horizon where the sun should rise, but it was racing a huge rain cloud blowing in across the fjord.  In near perfect unison, they met in a 2 minute flash of light, sky glowing bright orange and pink as heavy drops of rain began falling from the sky.

I was beginning to run for shelter but turned around for one last image, before my camera and lens became completely soaked (it was that super heavy, big drops type of rain).  Not an ideal composition, but about all I could manage given the conditions.  And something different from what I usually seem to photograph.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 250
f 5.6
1/30 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #66 – Lake Agvatnet Winter

Lake Agvatnet in winter, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Patterns of snow on lake Ågvatnet, Å I Lofoten, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 2, 2014.  15:27

I had been following the on Lofoten for the months before my travels at the beginning of February and knew the islands where having a ‘dry’ winter.  This first was evident as I walked the cold, windy streets of Bodø from the airport to a friends house.  Usually it is a perilous and slippery journey along icy sidewalks and streets, yet now I found only blowing circles of dust on the midnight roads.

So it was a surprise for me when I woke up expecting to see the first glow of dawn on the horizon, only to find my car enveloped by swirling snow and the world beyond the reach of my headlamp a deep black.  I drove the winter roads, parked at some beach and waited in darkness until the storm began to pass and black turned to grey before turning to deep blue.

As afternoon arrived I made my way to the end of the road at Å, Normally a good location for winter sunsets.  Waiting for the light to improve I hesitantly wandered out onto the frozen lake Ågvatnet.  A few locals were out and about on their afternoon walks, so I figured it should be fine, and the ice was quite thick.  Still, it makes some interesting noises while you stand out there.

The morning’s snow had blown into some interesting looking patterns, giving a nice contrast to the nearly black ice of the lake.  And in somewhat flat, fading light of late afternoon in February, I searched for some interesting elements.

As much as I like this image, I do feel it a bit imbalanced.  I would have liked to go with a square crop, but that caused me to loose too much of the cloud in the sky, which I think is important to the image.  So I decided on a 4×4 crop, to give a little more space in the sky.  But this leaves the image a bit centred I think, my eye not quite sure where to go first and not as drawn into the scene as I would like.

One of the difficulties of using multiple exposures with a tilt-shift lens to achieve square or panoramic images is that you never can see the overall composition as you are shooting.  I do my best to estimate where the horizon will land one I combine the images and I often shoot a bit extra to give myself room to crop down, either from the top or bottom, but there are times like this where keeping the full image seems to work better.

Do you see an animal in the cloud?

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
45 seconds
WB Daylight
3 images – top, middle, bottom
6 stop B+W neutral density filter

Friday Photo #65 – Northern Lights Over Olstind

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in sky over Olstind mountain peak and fjord near Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Northern Lights shine in sky over Olstind, Valen, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 11, 2014.  23:04

For anyone who as seen the Northern Lights, I don’t think I need to explain why I have a growing fascination with them.  It is almost like a drug, the more I see, the more I want.  In my earlier winter travels to Lofoten, I thought of them as an added bonus to the already spectacular landscape that I was there to photograph.  Now I think of the lights as a key part of any photography tour of the islands, and I begin to grow impatient after too many cloudy nights.

I try and photography the Northern Lights as an element of an overall landscape.  That is to say, I don’t just want the lights themselves, but I want the lights as an element of an overall landscape photograph.  However, living 10,000 km away from Lofoten, and only having precious few weeks on the islands each year, this is easier said than done, and I miss many opportunities in ‘right time, wrong place’ moments.

But always in my mind are a few scenes that I desire to photograph in a particular way.  Northern Lights and Olstind is one of those images.  I have been close to my envisioned image a few times, including this photo, but I don’t think I’ve quite made it yet.

I often think about what it would be like to live in Reine, or anywhere on Lofoten for that matter, and have 180 nights per year to attempt to fulfil my minds images.  Must be magical.  Even if only for a year.  Maybe some day if I’m lucky.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1250
f 4.5
20 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #64 – Hamnoy

Hamnoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Morning at Hamnøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 14, 2014.  08:46

This is the first image from my recent Lofoten trip.  All in all I was on the islands from February 1 – 15 and February 26 – March 8.  A long trip!  It was an odd, nearly snow-less winter, which was at sometimes somewhat disappointing.  But it was also quite a productive trip for me, and I think the absence of expected conditions lead me to an overall greater diversity in the images I have returned with, a few of which might be some of my strongest images of the islands yet.

But to start, here is an image from the somewhat ‘common’ view point of Hamnøy, taken from the bridge.  For this part of the trip I was traveling with several other photographers from Australia and in a change from my normal accommodation of either the back of my rental car, tent, or hostel at Stamsund, I was treated to the luxury of staying at Eliassen Rorbuer, Located here on Hamnøy.  Meaning, in my laziness, this image was only a short walk from the front door, not bad!

It was also the morning where I was headed out to Bunes beach, and with the late sunrise of mid February, I didn’t have much time to wander away before I had to be in Reine to catch the morning ferry to Vindstad.

You can also see how little snow was present on the islands.  Normally I’m used to some periods of rain during my winter photo tours where the snow line will creep up the mountains a but.  But this year was something new all together!  There seemed to be less snow than my April/May trip last year.  But even with the lack of snow, I still find this a pleasant image.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
20 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #63 – Merrastind Dawn

Morning light on Merrastitinden from near summit of Helvetestinden, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Morning light on Merrastitinden, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 16, 2013.  05:44

Even while camping high in the mountains, it is easy to end up in a place where you will not see any sun until it is well above the horizon.  Though sometimes you get at least a little lucky in the light you are provided.

Having camped about 2/3 the way up Helvetestinden on my first day on the islands in August 2013, I was barely able to rise out of bed in the early morning.  Though while the sky overhead glowed with the arriving day, I remained deep in the shadows of surrounding peaks.  So I went back to bed for a couple hours, like any lazy photographer would do.

Awaking sometime later to blue sky overhead, I was still in the shadows of mountains.  Yet the sun was breaking through the surrounding peaks in one place, shining bright on the near vertical granite cliffs of Merrastind.

I’m not sure how many days per year this light exists, but I’m glad enough I was there at this time.  While I wish there was a little more going on in the sky, I still like this image for the simplicity of the elements.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/100 sec
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #60 – Rorbu

Derelict Rorbu sits on edge of fjord, Vestvalen, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Abandoned Rorbu, Vestvalen, near Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 17, 2017.  17:19

I posted a different version of this building a few months ago.  While I had been familiar with the location for many years, and had shot images from the building, I had never taken any images of the building, until this evening.

The last moments of light combined with low, heavy clouds provided the perfect atmosphere to accompany this abandoned rorbu for a scene that I waited years to come across.  I like to think I have seen everything Lofoten has to offer, but I have come nowhere close! Nearly every moment of every day is different, week after week, month after month, year after year.  I have rarely come across the same conditions in the same place twice.  One of the reason I never get bored with the islands; they are always changing!

While I don’t often tend to shoot architecture, this evening was perfect for this building.  Even to the detail of the mountain emerging from the clouds in the background.  I only had a short amount of time and then the sky opened up for the remainder of the night.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
20 sec
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #59 – Bunes Beach Twilight

Sunset at Bunes Beach, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Summer twilight over Bunes beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 16, 2013.  23:04

If you’re like me, and you like twilight, then even late summer on Lofoten leaves little time for sleep.  Only my second day on the islands and still jet lagged from travel, I was a little lucky to nap in the afternoons and not fully rise until the light was beginning to fade.

Bunes is a big beach!  I typically camp at the back of the beach, on the soft, grassy dunes, but from here it can be a bit of a trek before you actually reach the water’s edge.  What this means is that it’s usually not a simple task just to wander out for a photo or two, then head back.  It’s better to commit yourself for a few hours at a time, else you’ll spend more time walking than photographing.

I was lucky.  While the clouds were racing overhead, the wind on the beach remained calm.  With barely a glow left on the horizon, it was perfect lighting conditions for what I like to photograph on Lofoten.  Maybe a little more color could have been nice, but I still like the near mono-tonal quality of the blues.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
30 sec
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #58 – Olstind Reflection

Olstind mountain peak rises from fjord, Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Olstind Winter panoramic, near Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 6, 2012.  16:10

Every time I travel to Lofoten I try and remind myself that I already have enough images of Olstind.  And yet every time I am there, Osltind provides me with something new, whether I want it or not.  And so, like sailers lured by the sirens, I find myself hopping across the rocks on the edge of the fjord, drawn towards Osltind.  The perfect mountain.

This particular day had been calm and cold.  The surface of the fjord began to freeze and the ice made an eerie sound as it gently broke against the rocks a few inches from my feet.  The sky was not quite what I was hoping, and the light a bit flat in the day’s final moments.  But with near perfectly still water, the reflection was perfect.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 8
.3 sec
WB Daylight
3 images – left, right, middle

Friday Photo #57 – Kjerkfjord Winter

Scenic winter view across Kjerkfjorden towards Vindstad, near Reine, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Winter Reflection on Kjerkfjord, near Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 6, 2010.  13:35

In the short days of early January the sun barely rises above the southern horizon.  If the sky is clear, then several hours of wonderful twilight is what a photographer will be rewarded with.

It is a rare event when all elements align perfectly, but when they do, there is perhaps no better place in the world to be than Lofoten, well, at least for those of us that like winter.

Nearing Reine, the fjord was almost perfectly still and they sky glowed pink.  In the distance, the snow covered mountains between Vindstad and Kjerkfjord reflected in the calm waters.  I knew I had precious little time on this day to get to as many places as possible.  Yet everywhere I looked was something amazing.  If I were able to stop the clock, then this this day could have lasted a full year…

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
70mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/40 sec
WB Daylight