Photo: Grytdalsdind rises over river at dusk, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Sept 24, 2013.  18:38

The river Nordalselva flows through Nordal valley before rising into the triangular peak of Grytdalstind.  Only a short walk from Unstad, it feels completely wild here, with few signs that anyone has passed this way before you.

It had been an afternoon hiking and exploring, ending on the 534 meter, and quite exposed, summit of Grytdalstind.  Getting lost on the numerous sheep trails during the descent, we lost a fair amount of time going cross country through the landscape.  Normally this is fairly simple on Lofoten, but this area seemed to be especially rocky and with a few forests of dwarf birch to precariously navigate.

We were exiting the valley just as the last light was shining over the summit of Grytdalstind.  I tried to find a good composition, but was too late in the quickly fading light.  So I continued to hike on until I reached one of the crossings of the Nordalselva and thought it would make an interesting enough photo.  I crossed the river and headed back up the other side until I reached a wider section, and I place I could get to without sinking in bog.

Had I been here about 20 minutes earlier, it would have no doubt been a much more dramatic photo.  But I think the scene here is interesting enough to represent the end of a nice autumn day in the mountains of Lofoten.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 200
f 13
15 seconds
WB Daylight
B+W 6 stop neutral density filter

Photo: Colorful blueberry bush in autumn, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 3, 2012.  11:09

For those of you who’ve followed this site for a while, you’ll know that I’m not much of a macro/detail photographer.  But sometimes getting close makes the most sense for what you’re trying to show, and thus you have today’s photo.

2012 was a brilliantly colorful autumn on Lofoten.  After having spent close to 2 weeks in Sweden on the Kungsleden trail, and then this, I was about on color overload – which is a good thing!

Everywhere I was surrounded by golden birches, yellow grasses, and red blueberries.  Entire hillsides filled with a multitude of colors.  This particular day however, I couldn’t put light and landscape together in an effective way.  I was always 5 minutes too late for whatever scene I was trying to capture.  So finally I kind of gave up (I would later this day hike up Offersoykammen just to be in one place and quit chasing light) and looked for tiny elements that could somehow show what I was seeing.  And so I changed my attention to the mountains and sky to a few small bushes around my feet.

While this image could have been taken anywhere in northern Europe, it still feels very ‘Lofoten’ to me somehow…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 85mm f/2.8 tilt-shift
85mm
ISO 50
f 11
1/4 seconds
WB Daylight

Photo: Autumn light shines across the rocky summit of Holandsmelen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 26, 2013.  17:35

Day 3, mountain 3.  After having spent a rather sleepless (because I was trying to keep an eye out for northern lights) night on Reinebringen and descending in the morning, I was feeling somewhat lazy and more or less content to sit around the Stamsund hostel eating popcorn.  But as the hours of the day passed, it became evident that I couldn’t just sit around.  So it my best ‘I’m lazy but need to do something’ mode, I headed towards the small peak of Holandsmelen.

I was a bit worried about the views, due to the close proximity to Leknes and the urbanized areas of Vestvågøy, but I figured there would at least be some decent views of Vik beach, and perhaps something else.  I arrived on the summit with the sun hanging low on the horizon, quickly approaching a thickening layer of clouds out over the sea.

The best images were towards the beaches, where I managed to get a few exposures off before they fell into shadow.  Luckily the sun remained shining a bit longer on the summit, giving me some time to explore the unique rocky texture of the otherwise ‘soft’ mountain.  Holandsmelen is an easy hike and probably a place I’ll be back to to explore again with some different light, maybe I can even find a flat enough spot to sleep for the night, hopefully without too many rocks poking into my back.

The pointy mountain in the center of the image is Skottind.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
28mm
ISO 200
f 14
1/40 second
WB Daylight