Photo: Moonlight over Mustaren, Eggum, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 3, 2012.  17:13

To my dismay, barely any snow covered to lower elevations of the islands upon my arrival at the beginning of February 2012.  This was in quite a contrast to my first real winter experience on the islands in January 2010, where it snowed so much that I got my car stuck several times and had to be pulled out.  I had traveled to the islands imagining what scenes I would find and how I would photograph them, and yet I arrived to something totally different.

The lack of snow left much of the landscape somewhat drab looking, especially in the flat light of my first days on the islands.  And so I found myself looking for new perspectives that I hadn’t though of.  At this point in my previous winter experience, I’d never really seen ice, as it had always been covered in snow before.  And so on my second night while camping out at Eggum I took a little wander.

By evening the the weather had calmed by what had thus far been some pretty blustery weather.  Though Eggum is often one of those places, depending on wind direction, is totally blown out (usually), or sometimes eerily calm, such as this night.  I tried some seascapes, but they weren’t working out particularly well, so I turned around and pointed my camera towards the near full moon just as some clouds began appearing from behind the mountain.

I stood there for a while in the cold and silence, the crashing of waves a few meters behind me the only sound to be heard.  Some minutes later, a pair of otters began wandering around the rock near me, oblivious to my presence; perhaps it was so cold they couldn’t smell me, or I’d only been on the islands for a couple days so I wasn’t too ripe yet.  I’ve seen otters many times on the islands, but this night, in the darkness, was the closest I’ve ever been to them.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
16mm
ISO 200
f 11
121 seconds
WB Daylight

Photo: Winter tide, Vik Beach, Vestvagøyå, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb. 16, 21013.  17:19

For several days a layer of low clouds had enveloped the islands and concealed the sun.  Flat, gray light was all there was to be found over most of Lofoten.  Finally, as evening arrived I headed out towards Utakleiv, where I planned to spend the night.  I was originally going to stop at Haukland beach while on my way, but there was already a crowd of other photographers there – and for some reason, I’m a bit self-conscious about invading another photographers ‘working space.’  Nothing more annoying than composing a shot and have some dude, or usually a workshop group, as numbers bring boldness, set up a tripod in the middle of your scene.  But I digress, a rant for another day perhaps…

So I instead headed towards Vik beach, which sat empty.  I had good luck with my timing as the incoming tide was meeting the snow line on the beach, which I often find an interesting motif.  The clouds here on the north side of the island also began to show some texture as they first met with the mountain wall of Lofoten.

There seem to have been a sheep or two which had wandered up and down the beach, leaving a maze of footprints in the otherwise almost completely untouched snow.  This reduced the possibilities of including more foreground in the composition and meant I needed to keep just to the water’s edge.  But in the end, I think it worked out quite okay.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
25 sec
WB Daylight
6 stop B+W ND filter
2 images – top/bottom

Photo: Haukland Beach winter, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Feb 20, 2013

After a week of fairly cold temperatures and calm conditions, the weather began to change on this day.  Winds and increasing temperatures swept across the islands.  Rain instead of snow now fell and setting up a tripod became difficult.

I was planning on spending the night at Utakleiv, but after a quick trip out to the beach, it was quite obvious that I wouldn’t be taking any photos there.  So I headed back through the tunnel to Haukland beach and relatively calmer conditions – though I still had to wait for a lull in the breeze before attempting to take a photo.  The sea was rough, and crashing high up on the beach, so after a few minutes of observation, I found myself just at the edge of the high water line.  Then comes the waiting game…

Finally, after what seems like forever, the next set of waves arrives, pushing the sea just to the edge of my tripod legs.  With luck, the wind also remains calm for the 25 second exposure to keep my light backpacking tripod from shaking too much.  Moments later, drops of rain begin to fall from the clouds and photography is over for the day.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8
24mm
ISO 50
f 16
25 sec
WB Daylight
Filer – B+W 6 stop ND