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Friday Photo #44 – Bunes Beach Rainbow

Rainbow at Sunrise over mountains from Bunes Beach, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Rainbow at sunrise emerges from mountains at Bunes beach, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 17, 2013.  04:29

Perhaps one of the best sunrises I have ever photographed on Lofoten, I nearly slept through this one. My second morning on the islands, I was still suffering the effects of jet lag and staying up till midnight the previous night – the short summer nights don’t leave time for much sleep. So when my alarm went off at 3:30am and I drearily peaked my head out from the tent the sky looked somewhat boring, I laid back down.  I know I am on the islands to take photos, but there are times in tiredness where for a fleeting moment, I wouldn’t mind if it were raining.  Then I come to my senses.  Sleep when I die!

A little more time passed before my next alarm sounded and I figured I might as well get out of the tent and see what the morning would provide. By now a small bit of color was beginning to appear in the sky so I hurried out to the beach. The sunrise towards the east was quite nice with some pink glowing clouds filling the sky, but as I passed around a corner on the coast, this came into sight.

The world seemed to be at a standstill, and even the wind was calm.  For 20 minutes, the rainbow slowly drifted out from behind the cliff until the clouds finally faded.  It was one of those lucking moments where a combination of elements all come together at once.

I returned to my tent for a couple hours more sleep before having to pack up camp and hike back to the ferry.  As I was leaving the beach the sky was now a flat grey and a gentle rain began to fall.  A rain that some hours later would see me arrive soaking wet at Horseid beach and forced to hide in my tent for the next 18 hours…

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

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Friday Photo #43 – Reinebringen Twilight

Twilight view from Reinebringen over Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Twilight over Reine from summit of Reinebringen, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 25, 2013.  19:48

Clear September skies and hopes of a repeat of the previous night’s Northern Lights led me to the summit of Reinebringen on this day.  Otherwise, I perhaps would have hiked some new mountain somewhere, but the chance at seeing the Aurora fill the night sky over Reine was something I had to go for.  And of course, the view from Reinebringen in one of the best and most iconic ones in Lofoten, so it’s easy for me to find an excuse to go up there.

The clouds that had filled the sky during the afternoon faded away as Twilight and then the blue hour arrived.  My last night on Reinebringen had been in the Summer of 2010, the nights still too short for any really darkness to arrive, so seeing the streetlights come on as the world darkened came a bit as an unexpected, but scenic surprise to me.

Without the lights, the blue tones, and lack of much contrast would have left this scene lacking in contrast in my opinion.  Still scenic, but not special.  The warm glow of the street lights, running across the islands like a slithering snake lead my eye through the image and give overall depth to the scene.  An image I was never expecting to create, but something I’m quite happy to come across.  And I’m sure this won’t be my last night on Reinebringen…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 8
10 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

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New Mountain Hiking Page – Hermannsdalstind – Moskenesoy

A new mountain hiking page is now online for Hermannsdalstinden, located on Moskenesoy.

– CLICK HERE –

Hermannsdalstinden is a spectacular mountain, and the only peak above 1000 meters in the western half of Lofoten.  While it is a long day hike, and overnight trip makes for a rewarding journey deep into the heart of Lofoten’s mountain landscape.  And the stunning views from the summit, Perhaps now my favorite of Lofoten.

 

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Friday Photo #42 – Kvalvika Beach Aurora

Northern Lights Kvalvika Beach Lofoten
Photo: Aurora over Kvalvika beach campsite, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Aug 30, 2013. 22:54

As August (and summer) comes to an end the Arctic sky finally begins to darken enough for the Aurora to return from their summer Holidays.  Well, they’ve been in the sky all along, but it was never dark enough for them to shine.  This year, might first sighting of the Northern Lights was on August 21st, Though they were quite faint against the twilight night.  The night of this image, August 30, the sky was significantly dark and the Aurora strong enough for a decent image to be made.

This is also an image that I nearly missed, as a few hours earlier I had sprained my ankle while coming down from sunset up on Ryten, and was thus is a fair amount of pain and without the ability to move much.  But as soon as I saw the Aurora, I left the warmth of the campfire and did my best to hobble and crawl around the ground to get myself in position.  And with the fairly dark foreground of the campsite, and the Aurora high overhead, I needed to keep my camera quite low to the ground to capture more of the sky.  Thus I would probably would have ended up laying on the ground anyhow, sprained ankle or not.

The Aurora only lasted for a few moments and then disappeared as quickly as it arrived.  But due to the high cliffs surrounding Kvalvika beach, it is probably not the best location for Aurora watching anyhow, most of the lower horizon is hidden from view.  Had I still been up on Ryten, it probably would have turned out to be quite a nice display.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 800
f 5
10 seconds
WB Daylight

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Helvetestinden – New Hiking Route Page

The first new hiking route from my August Lofoten trip is for the mountain peak Helvetestind, Located on Moskenesoy.

-CLICK HERE- to checkout the hike.

This was the fist hike of my trip, traveling non stop for nearly 40 hours from California until I reached the summit on a sunny summer afternoon.  I couldn’t have asked for better weather, and despite my exhaustion, I was glad to be up there.  I hope you enjoy it.  And plenty more mountains to come over the next weeks…

Kjerkfjord from Helvetestind, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: View towards village of Kjerkfjord from near summit of Helvetestind, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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Friday Photo #37 – Kvalvika Beach

Group of people on Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Kvalvika Beach Friends, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Aug 26, 2012.  16:00

While I typically choose to exclude people from my landscapes, sometimes a human element helps make a scene.  I can’t remember exactly what I was doing at the moment, probably wanding around the beach to collect driftwood, when this group of people showed up and caught my eye.  And so I pulled out my camera to see if anything interesting might happen.

I would have preferred the beach to be clear of footprints, but what can you do, other than hiring some models to re-create the scene at low tide.  As the 3 friend sat and chatted for a minute, before one of them went diving into the water, I grabbed a couple quick photos.  Somehow the 3 of them standing there helps show the massive scale of Kvalvika beach, to me the cliffs in this image almost look bigger than they are in real life.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
56mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/160 sec
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #34 – Munkebu Hut in Autumn

Munkebu mountain hut with Hermannsdalstinen peak in distance, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Munkebu hut and Hermannsdalstind in Autumn, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 7, 2012.  13:27

My last full day on the islands for 2012.  After a rather stormy last few days, the weather cleared up and I decided to make one last journey into the hills.  I had originally planned on getting an early start to the day and maybe making an attempt on Hermannsdalstind, but that didn’t happen; perhaps because I stayed up too late the previous night looking for Northern Lights.

By this time in the year, end of the first week of October, nearly all the trees across the islands had lost their leaves.  While this left much of the islands somewhat barren looking as they awaited the arrival of the first snows, the low, ground foliage still had some nice color to be seen.

I had actually planned at staying a night or two in the Munkebu hut in August or September, but someone decided to infect the place with bed bugs (eeeekkk!), so it was closed the majority of the 2012 Summer season (as far as I have read, it has been re-opened for 2013, but that’s probably a bit late news for you if you’re reading this now).  But as I’d never been up here before, I decided just to start hiking and see where I ended up for the day.

While I think this area is quite a beautiful part of the islands, and one of the the most isolated parts of Moskenesøya, one of the landscape photographers greatest nemeses is present, power lines!  grrr!  There would be some beautiful, untouched views from up here, yet a row of power lines always seem to find their way into the best composition.  And I’m not even sure what they’re doing way out here, and the poor guys that had to put them in in the first place, but they’re there.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70f/2.8
29mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/200 sec
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #33 – Olstind in Clouds

Heavy clouds conceal summit of Olstind mountain peak rising from fjord, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo:  Olstind hidden in Winter Clouds, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 17, 2013.  17:11

Olstind, probably the most iconic peak of the Lofoten Islands, when you can see it.  Taken at the same time an location as last weeks Friday Photo, another gloomy image during the fading light of a short February winter day.

For some reason I don’t imagine I’ll ever have enough images of Osltind.  While often times I pass the mountain by if it’s a scene and lighting conditions I’ve previously photographed, when something new is to be found I’ll usually make the effort to hop out of the car, or walk, and see what I can come up with.

I think the calmness of the evening drew me out here on this particular day.  I’ve seen the mountain hidden in clouds enough times before, but for some reason, there was something a bit more interesting this time.  The sky was heavy, as indeed, rain started falling only a few minutes after this image.  But at the moment, the islands were calm.  The waters of the fjord sat flat and silent, hardly making a sound on the barnacle covered rocks I was standing on.  And so yet another photo of Olstind was taken.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
8 seconds
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #32 – Empty Rorbu

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

Photo: Abandoned Rorbu, Vestvalen, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 17, 2013.  17:12

Like last weeks Friday Photo, this is a location I’m so familiar with that I’ve never thought of taking a photo of it before.  I’ve stood in front of this building a dozen times or more, with my camera pointed at Olstind – one of my favorite locations to shoot Olstind from as you can get away from all the power lines – yet I’ve never turned around and given much though to the building itself.  Perhaps I just needed the right conditions.

I find something haunting about this image.  It is dark and subtle, far from the typical ‘hero’ type Lofoten photos I and others normally take.  It feels lonely and forlorn, yet with a glimmer of something. A future.

Perhaps on most occasions I would not have even been here as the last traces of light faded from a February day while a gentle rain began to fall just as I put my camera in my backpack and wandered back to the car.  I was merely killing a bit of time before being graciously invited by another photographer I had met for a cup of tea in his Rorbu just down the road – an invitation not to be passed up while sleeping in a car in winter.  And so, I ended up with what is probably one of my favorite images of the trip.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
8 seconds
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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Friday Photo #29 – Reinebringen Mountain Sunset

Sunset over Reine and Hamnoy from Reinebringen, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Reinebringen Mountain Sunset, Moskenesøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 26, 2010.  00:35

The sky was a perfect blue as my friend Søren and I arrived back in Reine after two nights camping at Bunes beach.  The original plan was to head back to Stamsund, but such a day was too good to spend sitting on buses and waiting around Leknes.  Not having planned ahead for such a situation when leaving Bunes, my water bottles were empty and so I resorted to purchasing 1 liter of overpriced water from the small store in Reine.  And at that, we were on our way towards Reinebringen.

Despite our heavy overnight packs we made good time up the mountain, with a few odd comments and looks of surprise from the people we managed to pass.  We were on the summit before noon, with hardly a cloud in the sky and barely a wisp of wind to be felt.  Absolute perfection!  After some time of sitting in the sun, I set up my tent for the sole purpose have having some shade.  And by mid afternoon I was down to about 200ml of water.  But we were determined to stay on the mountain and so the hours slowly passed by as the sun sunk lower and lower on the horizon.

Not trusting if the weather would last, I took the tent down around 11pm, deciding that it would be safer just to sleep in the open; allowing a faster escape if the weather turned.  By midnight I was in my sleeping back, trying to get a few hours sleep before our 5am wake up call.  Though some 20 minutes later I opened my eyes to this scene emerging. Shit!  Time to get up…

I didn’t even bother getting dressed or putting shoes on.  So there I stood, barefooted and only in my underwear on the summit of Reinebringen as I photographed a midnight sunset.  It probably would have been a pretty funny looking scene had someone else decided to show up then.  By 5am we were on the way back down the mountain for the 6am bus back to Stamsund, where I slept the rest of the morning away on the deck outside.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/40 sec
WB Daylight
2 Images – Top/Bottom

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