Friday Photo #119 – Bunes Beach Winter Sunrise

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Winter sunrise at bunes beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Spectacular winter sunrise over Bunes Beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 26, 2015.  07:54

My tent was shaking violently in the wind in the early morning hours.  I could sense the lightening sky, but after a late night looking for northern lights, I wasn’t in a hurry to leave my sleeping bag.  But the photographer part of my brain was able to overpower the tired camper part of my brain for just long enough for me to take a peak out the door of my tent.  The sky was on fire!

In the blink of an eye I was dressed and running/slipping across the frozen beach and down to the shore.  On the way I nervously watched the sky, hoping the color would remain until I arrived at the water’s edge.  Luckily it did.

I did’t really worry about the waves washing over my boots as I stood a little close to the tide line to try and get a nice reflection.  The wind was still racing across the beach, lifting up clouds of sand every few moments and requiring me to keep a close eye on my tripod (I had already broken my Fuji XT -1 to wind on this trip).

After a bit of time on the beach, I figured my camera had taken enough abuse for one morning and headed back to camp to pack up and head back to the ferry.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 160
f 9
1/40 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #118 – Ryten Winter Hike

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Ryten Winter Hiking, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Nearing the summit of Ryten in winter, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 31, 2015.  12:33

Having made multiple summer – autumn trips up Ryten over the years, I finally thought it was time to visit the peak in winter.  While mid January had some fantastically calm days which made my job easy as I was guiding a photo tour for Muench Workshops, the month ended with wind.  Lots of wind.

As I pulled the car into the parking area I checked the forecast.  Hmm, not too bad.  But then I turned my head towards the clouds racing across the peaks.  Hmm, not too good.  But I decided to be optimistic and plan for a night camping on the mountain.

Midway up the route, it became evident that it wouldn’t be a fun night in the tent – if it survived!  Climbing up the final long ascent on the route the winds increased even more with almost every step.  Finally, reaching the summit ridge, walking straight became a difficult task and the straps from my camera back whipped me in the face.  I didn’t even bother going to the overlook to Kvalvika beach, as these were not conditions for photography.  And so I headed back to the car…

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 200
f 9
1/200 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #116 – Lofoten Coast

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Lofoten Islands Sailing

Photo: Moskenesøy coast, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 31, 2014.  11:24

It was somewhat Ironic, that the first time I find myself on a sailboat off the coast of Lofoten, the weather is so calm that there is no wind for sailing!  I’ve never had so many consecutive calm, sunny days on the Islands as I did when I was aboard the sailboat from late August to early September.

The weather did eventually catch up with us the day after this image, but for a view from the north side of Moskenesøy, I never believed the sea could be so still.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
35mm
ISO 160
f 10
1/500second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #115 – Sailing at Helle

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Sailing Lofoten Islands, NorwaySailing Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Sailboat anchorage at Buvågen bay, Helle, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 31, 2014.  19:18

Sailing to Helle, at the ‘end’ of Lofoten was the highlight of my summer sailing trip with Vertical Shot Expeditions.  Helle has been a place I’ve long wanted to visit, yet never had the means to do so myself.

This was the last day of good weather on the trip, so I made the most of it and wandered around the hillsides taking as many pictures of the boat as I could. Even continuing on into the night when a late summer display of the northern lights filled the sky overhead.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 160
f 14
1/100 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #114 – Lofoten Mountain Panorama

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Moskenesoy Mountain Lanscape, Lofoten Islands

Photo: Twilight mountainpanoramic, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 14, 2014.  19:56

After the light began to fade from the summit of Markan, it was time to descend the narrow ridge back down to camp at Fageråskaret pass.  More than content with the evening, I packed up my gear and prepared for the steep descent in the fading autumn twilight.

Yet, I didn’t make it more than a few meters from the summit before I came across this scene.  I contemplated walking on; the light wasn’t as good as it had been over the previous hours.  But then I though to myself, if this was the only light I had this day, would I take a photo.  Of course.

So I pulled freshly packed gear back out of the bag and re-setup my tripod for one last image of the day…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/4 second
WB Daylight
2 images – left, right

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Friday Photo #113 – Reine Cod Racks

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Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Empty cod drying racks, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 3, 2014.  20:19

Some days of stormy weather finally caught up with us during the second week of our sailing trip around Lofoten in the late summer.  Over a particularly grim couple days we moored to boat in Reine.

Most of the time I just hung around on board, the desire to keep dry stronger than the desire to explore Reine by foot, a place I’ve been to numerous times anyhow.  But on the second evening, it seemed as if the rain might hold off for a bit, so I went out with the group for a bit of a wander.

The cod drying racks of Lofoten, wether full of fish in winter, or empty the rest of the year, are always something I find interesting.  This particular set of racks I had never come across before, and was immediately drawn to their shape.

With the fast moving clouds and the fading light, I knew I wanted a long exposure to soften the detail of the sky and bring out the shape of the racks on the barren rocks.  This is one of the ‘dark’ moments of Lofoten that I like to capture.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 11
30 seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop ND filter
2 images – top, bottom

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Friday Photo #110 – Horseid Beach

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Horseid beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Horseid beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 15, 2014.  14:19

The mountain view over Horseid beach has been a long sought after image for me.  And no doubt because this view is the hardest to reach of the three main beaches of Moskenesøy (Bunes, Horseid, and Kvalvika).

Having spent the morning on another peak, I almost forgot that in the shorter days of September that I could wait too far after noon to get to the view point, otherwise the beach would be in shadow.  Luckily, I made it to this view with a bit of time to spare.  By the time I reached the summit of Branntuva, about an hour later, the entire beach was cast in shadow for the remainder of the day.

I made note of a few possible camping places close to this view point, so hopefully I can return with a bit more interesting light one of these days…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 100
f 11
1/200 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #108 – Mountains of Moskenesoy

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Lofoten Mountain landscape

Photo: View over Moskenesøy from Branntuva, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Septermber 15, 2014.  15:10

Branntuva is lonely and rarely hiked mountain deep in the heart of Moskenesøy, with most of the upper part of the mountain trail-less.

After hiking Markan the previous day, Branntuva seemed like the next best target from my base camp at Fageråskaret pass. And unlike the day before, there was hardly a cloud in the sky this day, only a low fog approaching from the sea creating a light mist in the lower valleys.

Fromt the summit, there are fantastic view in nearly every direction, especially the overlook of Horseid beach.  But of all the choices, I found this scene of all these steep ridges leading towards the high peak of Hermannsdalstind to be one of the best.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 100
f 9.5
1/400 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #107 – Branntuva Sunset

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Sunset over Branntuva, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Sunset over Branntuva from the summit of Markan, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 14, 2014.  19:24

Following up on last weeks image, here is another view from the summit of Markan.  The mountain to the left of the image is Branntuva, which was actually the original goal for this afternoon, until I figured I would not have enough time to get to the summit, so I made the wise decision to turn for Markan instead. – I hiked up Branntuva the following day.

For me, this part of Moskenesøy is one of the most scenic and wild parts of Lofoten.  And each time I reach the summit of one mountain, I’m looking at the dozen other peaks surrounding me and imagining what the views from they are like…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
19mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/30 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #106 – Markan Sunset

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Markan, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Autumn mountain light from the summit of Markan (600m), Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 14, 2014.  18:54

Waiting for sunset from the summit of Markan was one of the more memorable moments of my autumn travels on Lofoten.

It was one of those days that either turns out really bad or completely rewarding.  Luckily I had the reward this time, which is better than can be said for the last time I passed by Marken, hiking as fast as I could to keep ahead of an approaching storm.

On this afternoon it seemed as if rain would begin to fall at any moment, yet it never did.  All that happened was that the light got better and better until the sun was finally low on the horizon and the colors began to fade.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 200
f 9
1/160 second
WB Daylight

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