Vestvågøya | 68 North

Friday Photo #84 – Stamsund Twilight

August 15, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Summer, Vestvågøya/by Cody

Photo: Summer twilight, Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 31, 2010. 01:19

Summers on Lofoten mean sleepless nights. With the sun finally setting in mid July, the following weeks provide magical twilight nights as the end of summer begins to approach. It is in these weeks that I like to head out at midnight and see what I can find.

Stamsund was my base for all of my first visits to Lofoten. I was poor in those days and more or less happy just to be on the islands. I couldn’t afford a rental car, so I would spend many of my days wandering around the coast and nearby mountains of the hostel.

Even to this day, the coastline just a short walk from the hostel remains one of my favorite places to photograph. Over the years I have seen everything, from the seasons first snow, northern lights from horizon to horizon, gale force storms, and calm silence. It is someplace I will return to again and again, always finding some new light to photograph.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 85mm f/2,8 tilt+shift
85mm
ISO 200
f 8
121 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #78 – Ice Puzzle

July 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: Ice puzzle, Nedredal, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 7, 2014. 15:23

Despite the cold temperatures and traces of snow on the higher mountain peaks, Winter in the low grounds was particularly difficult to find this year (2014). With barely any snow to speak of, I was left looking for other ways to show that it was February and not May on Lofoten.

The southern road, 815, on the Vestfjord side of Vestvågøy is a seldom photographed area of the islands, but a location that often provides a variety of compositions in changeable light. Or in the case of Winter, the low, boggy sections of coastline where fresh and salt water meet tend to freeze and break apart after a sufficient period of cold.

The result can be a scenic coastal landscape covered in puzzle-like sheets of ice. Exposed to the southwardly setting sun, what looked like a promising sunset unfortunately faded away into Winter’s usual combination of a deep blue-gray color as the last light faded from the sky. But I still like the abstract and complex, yet simple, composition of the image.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 100
f 13
.3 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #76 – Utakleiv Beach Winter

June 20, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: Dusting of snow covers Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 9, 2014. 11:41

Walking out of the hostel in the early morning hours it was an unexpected surprise to find a light dusting of snow had fallen overnight; an otherwise rare event during my previous 9 days on Lofoten thus far. We chased the promise of a nice sunrise to another location, which failed to appear, before making our way towards Haukland and Utakleiv. Being a Sunday, I was eager to get to the beaches before the snow was filled with footprints from other photographers and locals on their afternoon walks – do you know how much damage a single dog can do to an otherwise pristine beach? Some might say, ‘just photoshop out the footprints.’ But I don’t agree with that. Better to come back another day and try again.

With luck, and it being nearly noon, no one had thus far decided to walk along Utakleiv beach, or at least not the majority of it. So I was pleasantly surprised to come across some untouched sections of beach to photograph.

Had there been no snow on the beach, I probably would not have taken this image. The light is quite flat and I already have a decent collection of images from Utakleiv that I’ve taken over the years. But with a little snow, I had the opportunity to produce something somewhat new in the otherwise familiar setting.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 13
13 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #75 – Unstad Beach

June 13, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: Dark sky over Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 10, 2014. 10:30

Heavy clouds greeted the arrival of dawn and it was obvious that there would be no colour to chase. Back to bed for a little more sleep, as if more sleep is needed in the long nights of winter. Later, we slowly made our way to Unstad beach to see what we could find.

A lone surfer was out, the head-high turquoise waves all to himself; if only I had had a lens longer than 85mm with me. The beach was otherwise empty as I made my way down among the rocks and to the tide line. What a change of scene from my pervious visit a week prior, where I was hardly able to stand in the gale force winds. This day was how I like it, calm and gentle.

While clouds still filled the sky from horizon to horizon, the light had an eerie clarity to it, something more than the drab grey which can be all to present. There was sharpness and contrast with a softness and depth as the clouds traveled across the sky.

Though I have spent hours on this beach, I contented myself with a few more before moving on the see how the frozen Utdalsvatnet would appear – not that interesting as it turned out.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 11
15 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom
6 stop B+W ND filter

Lofoten Islands Winter 2014 Part 1 – Northern Lights Greetings

April 30, 2014/0 Comments/in Stories, Travel, Vestvågøya/by Cody

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 1, 2014

[This is the first post of a six part series about my travels to Lofoten during February and March 2014. More will come each week.]

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. Normally I would hitchhike, but this time I was burdened with ski gear which would no doubt ruin any chance I had of catching a lift.

It was finally the 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. Early afternoon on February 1st while north of the arctic circle means it’s just about dark. 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 the stars were out, in which case I would try and stay up a bit longer and wait for Northern Lights. But upon peaking out the window was a gift 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 having reached the beach and put my camera back on the tripod the sky lit up, from the horizon, fully overhead, and then behind me. Not a bad welcome to Lofoten!

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 1, 2014

Photo: Northern Lights rise into the sky over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 1, 2014

Photo: Northern Lights fill the sky over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 1, 2014

Friday Photo #62 – Vestvagoy Winter

March 14, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: Winter landscape, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 16, 2013. 14:22

The light on Lofoten is not always magical and quite often you’ll have to make due with much less than ideal conditions. This day in particular had been dull and flat, low clouds casting near contrast-less gray light over the land. One of those days where I tend to drive in circles looking for something, yet often find nothing.

But Lofoten, particularly in winter, is more than glowing pink mountains and amazing sunsets. The islands are often bleak, weary, and forlorn. Skipping these moments means missing out on what the islands really are, while not always visually spectacular, the islands have more depth than the idealized illusion of them which we see posted all across the internet.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
34mm
ISO 200
f 11
1/100 sec
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Friday Photo #61 – Vik Beach Winter

March 7, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: Ice covered rocks at Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 16, 2013. 16:40

I’m not quite sure what it is, but I often find myself to focus on certain places on any given trip to Lofoten. In the past, I have driven past Vik beach quite literally dozens of times, yet never stopped to take a photo. However in February 2013, I seemed to be photographing at Vik nearly every other day. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with a particular location being more ‘in condition’ than other areas, or that I’ve just grown weary of other places over the years and look for something new.

Anyhow, while passing Vik on the way to camp at Utakleiv for the night I came across this scene. It had been cold for several days and a few lights snows had fallen. Had the ice on the rocks not been present, then I probably would have driven straight by this scene. And while I feel the balance of the image is a bit off, I like the contrast of the white ice against the blue water, helping to and depth, and cold, to the image.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
31mm
ISO 160
f 9
30 sec
WB Daylight
B+W 6 stop ND filter

Friday Photo #54 – Winter Roads

January 17, 2014/0 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: Heading to Haukland beach on winter roads, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 6, 2012. 8:57

This week’s photo is more for illustrative purposes than of something scenic. With more and more people planning on visiting the islands in winter, it can be a bit of a shock to drive on the roads for the first time, especially if you are like me, and grew up in a temperate climate.

While my experience on the European continent is that they tend to keep roads snow free in winter, either by plow or grit, in Lofoten, this is not overly practical. In big storms, the roads are cleared of deep snow and snow drifts, but overall, there always remains a layer of snow and ice covering any asphalt. To deal with these conditions, the Norwegians (and Swedes) utilize studded tires from November to April.

While not like driving on dry asphalt, the studded tires work amazingly well. In my estimate, I would say they retain about 70% the traction level of normal tires on dry conditions. For road conditions like in this photo, you can more or less drive normally (but be weary on sharp turns).

Where driving conditions become dangerous is when the temperatures warm to 2-6 degrees above freezing and it begins to rain. This turns all the hard, compacted snow of the roads into a layer of wet ice. Scary and slippery! The road plows are good at dealing with this and will have the main roads gritted and ice free within a few hours. But I would suggest minimizing your driving during this period if possible. I have gotten stuck a few times where I pulled down into an icy parking area and was unable to drive back out without considerable effort on my part to clear away enough ice to get a bit of momentum built up.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 200
f 57.1
1/30 sec
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #52 – Haukland Beach Winter

January 3, 2014/10 Comments/in Friday Photo, Vestvågøya, Winter/by Cody

Photo: January dawn on Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 6, 2010. 09:49

Some time ago I posted a photo from this morning at Haukland beach, but as I’m now less than one month away from returning to the islands, it’s time for more winter images to inspire me. Even now, looking back four years later, it still remains one of my most memorable days on the islands and is partly what saw me start this website in the first place and begin to look at Lofoten with a different set of eyes.

After having spent a stormy night at Utakleiv attempting the sleep in the cramped back seat of my all-too-small rental car, Haukland beach was the first scene I came across for the day. I was not in a rush to get anywhere in particular, but I was in a rush to get as much variety out of the 4 hour day as possible. I was also still cold from the night, only having a 0˚ sleeping bag with me, as the temperature dropped to -10˚ or so, and the car had yet to properly warm me up in the short drive from Utakleiv. With already cold feet, I crunched my way across the snow covered sand and down towards the beach.

When I caught sight of this small chunk of ice on the frozen beach, I knew I had found something special. While Lofoten is cold, there is not often ice on the beaches such as this. But thanks to the cold temperatures and the small creek that runs into the sea at Haukland, a frozen piece of creek ice must have washed back onto the beach at high tide, and then a light layer of snow fell overnight to complete the scene. I have attempted to find a scene like this in my last several winter visits, but have never been so lucky again.

The only thing that distracts me is the otter tracks across the middle of the image, I guess he was up before me. But overall, this is still one of my favorite images from the islands.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24mm f/3.5
24mm
ISO 200
f 16
8 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top/bottom

________________________

Well, I’ve reached image number 52, a whole year of weekly Lofoten Images. Good thing I still have about 900 images left in my archive to keep things going. But at the moment, I’m not too sure if I’m going to continue posting weekly photos. I initially started when there wasn’t all that much content here on the site, so I was just hoping to fill things in a bit. And in all honesty, I haven’t received much feedback for my efforts during the last year, so I’m kind of questioning whether it’s worth my time to continue.

So now your chance to chime in. If you find the information or stories useful on this Friday Photo series, maybe make a comment letting me know. If it’s just been a waste of time, you can let me know that as well. 🙂

Happy 2014! For those of us heading north in the next months, lets hope the mountains are full of snow and the skies full of Auroras. And if you see some guy in a ugly blue jacket wandering around, come say hello. (I also accept invitations to hot tea and use of an oven to cook a frozen pizza for dinner in.)

Friday Photo #51 – Holandsmelen

December 27, 2013/2 Comments/in Autumn, Friday Photo, Vestvågøya/by Cody

Photo: Afternoon light over Vik and Haukland beaches from the summit of Holandsmelen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. 26 Sept, 2013. 17:30

I almost didn’t head up Holandsmelen on this afternoon, preferring to be a bit lazy, as I didn’t get much sleep up on Reinebringen the previous night. But as the hours of the day passed by, the weather was too good to be wasted just sitting around. So in mid afternoon I decided to head up Holandsmelen.

I didn’t know anything about the mountain or if the views would be much good. Rising to the north of Lenkes’ urban sprawl, I knew the views towards the south would probably not be very interesting. But with close proximity to some of the beaches on Vestvågøy, and looking like an easy hike, why not?

I like to be on mountains for sunset. But I also like to catch the last traces of daylight, incase it works better for a given location. Upon leaving Stamsund, I couldn’t see that there was something of a layer of clouds on the northern horizon. I hike fast, but by the time I reached the summit, the beaches were in and out of shadow as the sun became obscured by the clouds. I rushed to find a decent composition as quickly as possible to at least get a couple photos with the beach and farm fields illuminated by the ever sinking sun. Without the light on the beaches and sea, the image loses too much color and contrast, becoming fairly dull and boring. But I think I arrived just in time for something interesting to appear.

The Landscape photographer in me wants something a bit ‘wilder.’ More nature, less roads and buildings. But this is Lofoten, people live here. And so this is actually something of a typical Lofoten scene: man and nature, side by side. Even the dead (cemetery towards the left) have a nice view!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
27mm
ISO 200
f 10
1/100 sec
WB Daylight

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