Friday Photo #127 – Himmeltindan Winter Sunrise

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Vikvatnet winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter sunrise over Vikvatnet and Himmeltindan, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 27, 2015.  10:06

A somewhat mild winter, temperature wise, left many of Lofoten’s lakes still unfrozen or only partially frozen at the end of January.  Lakes that I had stood in the middle of at the same time in previous years were now no-go zones, unless I was looking for a cold swim.

But in this gentle balance of freezing and thawing, unique patters and shapes can form which give a bit of detail to a scene.  In this case, there was a rock just beneath the thin layer of lake ice which kept the nights snow from melting.

The snow circle was a few meters into the lake.  I tried to get as close as possible, and still being close to the shore, the water wasn’t that deep, but I didn’t want to risk breaking through.  So I pushed my camera and tripod out as far as my arms could reach, the ice making creaking sounds with every movement, so I could get something of a decent composition.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 125
f 11
1/13 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

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Friday Photo #125 – Offerøykammen Winter View

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Offersoykammen in winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Winter view from summit of Offersøykammen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  January 20, 2015. 12:01

The fine weather of mid January 2015 held on for a few more days after my time guiding for Muench Photography Workshops.  After Picking up my rental car in Stamsund, I didn’t really know what else to do than go for a short hike.

There was lots of fresh snow around and my snowshoes wouldn’t arrive for a few more days, so I had to pick something easy and familiar – Offersøykammen seemed like a good fit. Luckily a couple people had gone up the route before me – it’s a popular peak with the locals – so I didn’t have to do any route finding and thus made pretty good time as I climbed towards the summit.

The winds picked up a bit as I reached the top a little before noon.  The low winter sun, barely rising over Skottind to the south cast a nice orange/pink glow across the wind carved snow of summit.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 200
f 11
1/100 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #120 – Lofoten Northern Lights

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Northern Lights, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights over Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 31, 2015.  22:16

What had started out as a windy morning had calmed to little more than a light breeze by evening.  In the previous 2 weeks I had photographed some decent aurora displays, but finally on the end at January the moon was bright enough to light up the landscape. Now all I had to do was wait.

I didn’t want to get too comfortable while waiting in the car, but with the cold and the dark, sleep become difficult to avoid.  So I set my alarm to go off every 30 minutes to wake me up for a quick peak outside.  At 21:30, I saw the first hint of green in the sky.

I had parked near Haukland beach, knowing that I can reach a number of good locations within a few minutes to adjust for where the northern lights might appear in the sky.  As luck would have it, they where almost perfectly aligned over Haukland, and so that is where I started a night of shooting.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 2000
f 4
8 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #117 – Old Farm House

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Old Farm House, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Old farm house in winter, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 18, 2015.  09:12

This is one of those scenes which I’ve driven by dozens of times and always thought I need to stop and take a photo sometime, yet up to this point, never have.  Though there was always something more to this image than exists here.  And so finally on this trip, the image I wanted became available.

In early February 2015, hurricane Ole passed over Lofoten, bringing winds over 100mph and bringing widespread destruction, including collapsed buildings and missing roofs.  Until Ole visited Lofoten, there was an ugly power line running through the field behind the house.  Well, Ole took care of that.

The first time I drove by after Ole I immediately noticed the power line was down, and wondered how long I might have until it was put back up.  But it took more than a week for the right conditions to present themselves for me to do justice to this old house.  I would have liked a bit more snow, but overall, I think the image came out quite nice.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 31
f 16
30seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top/bottom
6 stop B+W ND filter

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Friday Photo #109 – Aerial Lofoten

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Aerial view over Steine, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Aerial view over Steine, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 24, 2014.  11:44

This autumn I finally had the opportunity to fly in a small cesna and capture some aerial photos of Lofoten.

While it looks like a nice and calm day in this photo, it was actually quite windy and turbulent.  I had originally planned to fly over the western tip of the islands, but as I reached the airport and met with the pilot, Moskenesøy was still completely covered in cloud.  The east, however, was mostly blue sky.

This was my first, and only, experience shooting from a small plane, so I did my best just to keep my camera level and hopefully get something interesting in the frame as we bounced up and down in the turbulence created from Lofoten’s mountains.  Even the pilot commented that it was a rough day to be in the air!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
35mm
ISO 500
f 7.1
1/1600 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #98 – Grytdalstind And River

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View towards Grytdalstind mountain peak, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #97 – Autumn Hiking

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Hiker walking through autumn mountain landscape near lake Vikjordvatnet, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: A hiker travels through the autumn mountain landscape, Vikjorden, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Sept 29, 2012.  12:21

I’m not sure its possible for me to choose a favorite season on Lofoten, but it could possibly be autumn.  The crowds of summer have left, the days begin to grow cool and short, the northern lights once again fill the night sky, and the land fills with color while storms return with increasing frequency.

The last couple years the islands have been fortunate to enjoy rather mild autumn weather, often better than summer! I’m somewhat less adventurous, as I never quite trust the weather, but I find it a nice time to head out and explore some new areas for some short hikes; just to see what I can find, and maybe return to in the summer’s better weather for camping.

On this particular day I had been photographing around some small roadside lakes when I saw a local pull up and head into the mountains along a faint trail.  Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to follow him into the golden landscape; not like I had anywhere else to go, and it wasn’t likely to rain anytime soon.

Soon the trail passed a small lake and I veered off the trail and climbed a small hill to get a bit of an overview just as the man was hiking through the scene.  I continued up the trail to another small lake and made note of a few mountain routes to return to in the future.  Places which are rarely photographed yet no less spectacular than the iconic locations on Lofoten.  It is these little discoveries that assure me that I will never get bored with Lofoten, I just have to go a little farther from the road…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
34mm
ISO 100
f 7.1
1/400 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #94 – Autumn Color

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Detail of blueberry bush in Autumn, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #93 – Stamsund Aurora

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Northern Lights fill sky over sea and mountains, Stamsund, Vestvagoy, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Northern lights rise into the sky over Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 8, 2011.  23:14

Good things (sometimes) come to those who wait.  In my case, this was my last night of a 2 week trip on Lofoten.  A trip which thus far the northern lights had failed to appear.  For the most part it had been a fairly stormy and turbulent autumn on the islands, with only rare moments of clear skies.  But on this final night in Stamsund, the weather calmed and the sky cleared.  I could sense something would happen.

It was a small group of us left at the hostel and as usual were spent our evenings sitting around the table, warmed by the fire and hopefully some good food in our stomach (on this evening, young Nicola, the wandering French chef, had prepared quite a feast for the group as an end of season party).

Well after dark we heard a knock at the window, followed by ‘come outside quickly!’  Everyone rushed to put on their jackets, grab their gloves and head out into the night.  Me, I had to run to grab my camera and tripod.

Entering the darkness of the night, the sky was filled with green.  I immediately climbed the hill behind the hostel, and then headed out to the coast, joined by Nicola.  Roar took the others out on the boat to watch from the calm waters of the Vestfjord as the aurora danced and filled the sky in every direction.  Another one of those moments where I wish I could have had 10 cameras!

This was my best night of northern lights to date.  My next best night occurred again on October 8th, the following year, where I was unfortunate enough the be aboard the Hurtigruten while sailing across the Vestfjord and northern lights filled the sky from horizon to horizon.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 1250
f 3,2
15 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #92 – Holandsmelen Autumn

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View from rocky summit of Holandsmelen mountain peak, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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