Friday Photo #87 – Stamsund Sunset

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Rugged rocky coastline and mountain view at Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Pink sunset over Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 22, 2010.  00:51

The year 2010 was my first summer back on Lofoten for four years, having spent my last few trips getting to know the islands in the other seasons.  As usual, my first stop on the islands was the Stamsund hostel, where I had arranged a meeting with a German friend whom I had spent some weeks with during the previous autumn: a fellow Lofoten addict.

Despite the village of Stamsund not being the most interesting place on Lofoten, there is still something of a wild and unspoiled coast just a short distance from the harbor beyond the hostel.  I have stood upon these rocks dozens of times in all sorts of weather.  They are one of those places where I can be sitting inside and eating dinner and then Roar will come knocking at the window, ‘ Come outside, the sky is pink!’

And so I gather my camera and run out across the rocks, sometimes a little slippery if it has been raining, and head towards the sea.

This evening a bitter wind was blowing, but the light was brilliant.  I found a somewhat sheltered spot on the rocks to take this photo, the waves crashing at my feet.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
23mm
ISO 200
f 16
0.3 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #85 – Uttakleiv Light

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Waves break across rocky coastline at Unstad beach, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Afternoon light at Utakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 28, 2013.  18:14

For the last few years I’ve tried to tell myself that I have enough photos of Utakliev beach.  Yet, like clockwork, each time I’m on the islands I head out there, ‘ just the check things out…’  Often I find the place windswept and barren.  Yet on certain days, where the rest of the islands are under gale force winds, Utakleiv can be the place where a tripod wont blow over.

This was a particularly blustery summer day.  I had stopped at a few different locations, but most were more windy than I would have liked.  The clouds were moving fast through the sky and the fleeting moments of sun were separated by spells of heavy, sideways falling, rain.

I headed out to Utakleiv in the rain and waited in the car until I could see the rain beginning to pass.  Soon enough a bit of sun began to shine in the distance. Looking to the left, I could see the next front quickly approaching.  I had time for a few photos and then drops of rain began to fall again while the distant mountains disappeared behind the clouds.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3,5 tilt+shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
8 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom
6 stop B+W neutral density filter

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Friday Photo #84 – Stamsund Twilight

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Summer twilight over mountains of Lofoten islands, Stamsund, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #78 – Ice Puzzle

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Frozen sea ice along winter coastline, near Nedredal, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #76 – Utakleiv Beach Winter

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Dusting of snow covers sand at Uttakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #75 – Unstad Beach

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Waves flow among boulders at scenic Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Lofoten Islands Winter 2014 Part 1 – Northern Lights Greetings

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Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Uttakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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!

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Uttakleiv beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Vik Beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Vik Beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

 

Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis shine in Sky over Vik Beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #62 – Vestvagoy Winter

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Snow covered winter landscape, Farstad, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #61 – Vik Beach Winter

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Ice coveres coastal rocks, Vik Beach, Vik, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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Friday Photo #54 – Winter Roads

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driving on winter road with snow, Lofoten Islands, Norway

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

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