Another Trip to Hailuoto
I’m afraid the summer vacation is coming slowly to an end but the other day we spontaneously took another short trip to Hailuoto. As opposed to the last few weeks we were greeted with strong wind and much more agreeable temperatures than the recent blazing heat.
A Walk Through the Woods
Autumn will soon over and yesterday we used most likely one of the last chances of this year to have a nice walk a through the woods. We chose a rather short walk (2.8 km) and round about the middle there was a nice fireplace to grill some sausages. And just for the fun of it, a fire:
At Koitelinkoski
It was mostly grey in the morning, but for a brief moment the weather improved a bit. It helped that I at that time didn’t have to look after burning sausages anymore. Still, after all those years I like to come back here. It has changed though dramatically since I visited here for the first time about 12 years ago.
The Road to Å
During our first visit to the Lofoten nine years ago, I was not able to take this shot with my DSLR and a panorama head for reasons I can’t remember, but now I was able to take it with my phone. Our first stop was at the city of Henningsvær, where we strolled around the harbour in the early morning for a while before we continued our road-trip. Along the way we stopped at the Viking Museum (because why wouldn’t you) and eventually arrived at in Å where the road ends.
A Stop at Kabelvåg
After spending the first night of the trip along the way, we arrived, after about 24 hours of travel on the Lofoten islands first in the city of Svolvaer and a bit later in the village of Kabelvåg where stayed for the night. After a visit to the aquarium we put up our tents on a camping ground and continued the trip the next day.
Ramberg Beach
It was rather stormy that evening, and at one point we started to wonder whether the tent would stand the wind. Suffice to say, it did. Once everything was set up, I walked the 50 meters to the beach and took some images. As before, Spectre.app had worked well when I used it. After a restful night the wind had calmed down and we woke up to the soothing sound of the waves and with the clouds hanging low between the surrounding mountains.
The Devil’s Soup Bowl
Over the weekend we went to visit the Hiidenkirnut, a leftover landmark from the ice-age. The place is located near Rovaniemi in the north of Finland. The place was interesting to explore. Especially the kids had fun climbing on the rocks, even though most of place was easily accessible by stairs/ladders. Some of the pits, especially the last one we saw, were rather deep looking. The light was a bit too hard for landscape photography but I’m sure you get some ideas about the place from the images.
A Road Trip through Norway
Summertime is Road Trip time! This time I took the kids for a round trip over to Norway. It went as planned: many kilometers and lots of things to see in a rather short time. Despite it having been only a short visit the covered area was quite large. We went all the way from Rovaniemi (Fi) over Kilpisjärvi (Fi) to Trömsö (N), from there to the island of Somaroy, then from the island of Senja over Narvik and Kiruna (Swe) back to Finland.
A Violin Teacher's Room - A Photo Story
Summer, with all it’s landscape-photographic opportunities is but a distant memory and another winter is just around the corner. The days are significantly shorter and darker by now and finding time for some landscape photography is getting increasingly difficult. It’s just about time to think about some photographic projects to keep me a bit busy, and this could become one of them. If you visit here from time to time you might have noticed me mentioning the acquisition of a Ricoh GXR, which is a very fine and small camera.
An Evening At The Harbour
It appeared to become a perfect sunset when I left home - clouds and sun just right for taking out the Big Stopper which I finally wanted to work with. I planned to visit a beautiful and romantic little fishing harbor in Kiviniemi, Finland and do some long exposures of the piers and boats with some nice light and capture the movement in the clouds. As so often during this year my plans didn’t quite work out but new and different options offered themselves.
Poro in Motion - A Project
It takes me less than an hour of drive to the north to pass the so-called pororaja (the reindeer-border) and depending on time of year more and more reindeer are appearing all over the place. Usually in front of the car. Daring ( ;-) ) animals as they are and bred by humans they show no fear and seem to have the habit to happily feed next to the road or more commonly, to simply walk right in the middle of it.
The Korouoma Canyon
After driving through heavy rain we arrived in the Korouoma canyon late in the night and finally found some well deserved sleep. In the morning we started to explore the area and since neither of us has visited this location before, we weren’t at all sure what to expect. I knew that the Korouoma canyon is a popular place for ice-climbers during the winter season and naturally I expected to find a rather high and steep waterfall somewhere around here.
Kiutäköngäs - A Series
It was only planned to be a little road-trip, but in the end the resulting images became part of my Falls-Project. Our little road-trip leads us to our first destination in the east of Finland, a waterfall called Kiutägöngäs a bit north of Kuusaamo. I’m little familiar with the location as I have visited this waterfall, or more correctly rapid, once before now two years ago. During that visit I had a good chance to explore the scenery and then focused more on wider views.
The Road Trip - #1
Summertime is road-trip time and we just happen to have returned (well at least by the time of this writing) the other day from a few days long trip to the east and north of Finland. With no pre-planned destinations we were just going with the flow and where the weather and locations seemed to be best. This time it luckily also went by without any breakdowns of the car.
Raptor Falls #2
The other week I posted the first image in this series and it’s time for the image which I originally envisioned. Immediately when I passed the waterfall I had the idea for vertical panoramic image. The waterfall seemed to be just perfect for this purpose. This doesn’t only look nice here and I’m sure it will make a wonderful print. I also just realized that it is much easier to present a vertical panorama on the blog than a horizontal one ;-).
Raptor Falls #1
The conditions played some tricks on me during my short visit to Norway this time and I’m still strolling somewhere along the road to Alta, Norway. In fact I have no idea whatsoever where I have been when I took this image. I notice the waterfall and quickly pull over the car to a nearby parking spot, grab my bag and tripod and head back to the waterfall. While these kind of waterfalls are very common sight along the roads, photographing them often fails due to a lack of available places to leave the car securely on the narrow roads in the mountains.
Bossoberget Falls
I arrived in Norway after many hours of driving only to find the one road which was important to me, closed due to an avalanche. Instead of waiting for the next day, when the road is supposed to be opened again, I chose to explore a totally different area. A rough description of my journey you can find in this post. It didn’t took long until I found this waterfall, caved deep into the mountain.
A Slightly More Winding Road
There are moments in landscape-photography when just about everything comes together perfectly: you’re at the right place at the right time and the conditions are just right. These are rare and good moments. And then there are the moments when just about everything goes wrong. This is one these… So, I planned a quick visit to the island of Senja, Norway. We had been there last year and I wanted to go back there and take some images for which the conditions weren’t right then.
One Night In Lapland
I used a few days off to start my vacation with a short photo-trip to Lapland. It has become a habit, that I as soon as my vacation begins head out and spent some time doing my landscape photography. In fact I usually take the liberty starting a little early, which requires me to be back for my last day at work, hence the first one is usually only a one-nighter.
Sandfjordbukta
It’s only a little while ago that I missed some gorgeous light on the coastline and I returned to this beach which noticed earlier while driving along the road. On this location though, the conditions work for me. The light is soft and warm and the sky is beautifully lit by the sun which is hidden behind a layer of clouds just above the horizon. This beach is located slightly south of the city of Berlevag (Google Maps defines this location as Sandfjorden, let’s just assume this is correct), and the scenery bears some interesting views: tilted rocks, ponds and puddles reflecting the light from the sky, some green in the grass and some coastal mountains in the background, what else can one look for?
Eggum View
We’re just on the way back from the Lofoten with the direction to our home in Finland . We’re not in a hurry and we use the chance to stop now and then to explore and enjoy some of the scenery, as we did right here in Eggum. This is the way we the clouds have been most of the time for the first few days of the trip. It is amazing how low clouds can get in this area, also is it always surprising how different the conditions are around there.
A Smaller Kind of 'scapes
I jump-started my photographic season (at least the more local one) for this year already a few week ago and luckily I already had the chance to take advantage of some nice weather. By the time of this writing there’s still a decent layer of snow every now and then and the sea is still frozen over, but it’s getting there quickly. To make the beginning of the season as productive as possible I decided to focus on the smaller landscapes, a theme that I have not been necessarily neglecting but one that I’m at least not so familiar or comfortable with this.
Mountain Sketches
After little sun during the morning, quickly more and more clouds started to show up and it started to rain ever so slightly. The light, just soft and warm a few minutes ago disappeared in favor of a flat and grey mass above me. I was exploring an area called Signaldalen and I started to give the mountain-tops some attention when the first image of this series caught my eye.
Another Journey To The North 2/2 - Saana, you're looking good today
Tl,dr: On last day of this journey I was able to get the image that I had envisioned a long time ago. The mix of snow and rain which is hammering onto the car wakes me up after a couple of hours of sleep in the front seat of my car, which I have left on a beautifully located parking area. I’m looking out of the window and the stormy conditions out there are really not very encouraging.