Another Journey to the North Part 1/2 - Signaldalen
During this trip I took images all over the area up to the island of Sommaroy, near Tromsö. But the images in this post are all from the area that you can see here on the map The journey begins just after sunset and I’m leaving home off to Norway. To make the most of this short trip I planned to be at location just behind the border before sunrise to take advantage of some nice morning light on and in the mountains.
And I'm Off
It feels like forever since I had posted a similar post like this and it’s actually long overdue. Work schedules and a distance of roughly 800km to the location of my choice simply don’t play well together. But now, finally, the wait is over and I’m off to Norway again. Initially the idea was to stay in Tromsö and explore the area around there again. I have been there now a few times already I’m a little bit familiar with the area and have some rough ideas where to go to.
Persfjord: A Sunny Night At A Stormy Coast
The storm lasted the whole day but just as the forecast had predicted, at 22 o’clock the conditions finally change to the better. The wind calms down and the sun is having a first appearance and warming up not only the scenery with it’s golden light but also myself. I’m happy to be finally able to take some images and also to have my clothes drying up after a long day of rain.
The Red Rocks
This evening’s shooting started successfully a little while ago at a lighthouse a few kilometres to the north along this road. Again the weather and lighting conditions seem to change after almost every turn of the road (something that I already got used to) but slightly more confusing is the fact that now I’m struggling to find the scene that I scouted out earlier that day. For some reason it seemed to have disappeared.
Oulangan Summer Sky
Kuusamo, Summer 2009. It’s the beginning of June on a warm early summer night. I’m just on the way back home from a outing at Kiutaköngäs, a beautiful yet difficult to photograph waterfall. It’s little before midnight and the sun has “set” slightly below the horizon but still lights the sky just nicely. I’m driving on a little path which leads me out of the forest and finally to the road back home.
On A Misty Morning Pt.2
Two days ago, on Wednesday, I posted the first part of images in this series of images entitled “On A Misty Morning” and now it’s time for the second and last part. A write-up on the images you can find in Wednesday’s post. What I found to be interesting is, that even though I would not consider every individual image in this series as a “keeper” I do think though the series as a whole works and I am, much to my own surprise I have to say, very happy with the resulting series.
On A Misty Morning Pt.1
It happens that every now and then, that when I browse through my archives I find some images that were long forgotten. These are some of those. I have been visiting my home in Germany and did not really plan to do much landscape photography. Staying in the outskirts of the city and having a tight schedule during this one week visit it seemed to be a useless attempt anyway. Nevertheless I carried my gear with me.
The Green Mountain
A long night with beautiful light and gorgeous sky is coming to an end. The sun rises and it’s light slowly creeps over the mountains lighting the green mountains with it’s warm light. Quite a few successful image have been taken so far during this evening, but now the outing will be soon over. The beautiful warm light on the mountains to the right is what appeals to me here and what make the image for me.
Troms Rocks
We’re scouting for locations and exploring the island here in the north of Norway. Stunning views everywhere we go. It’s already in the evening but it’s summer here and the sun is still high up in the sky. Which is nice for exploring, not so much for taking pictures though. It turns out though, that just “in time” for better light, the weather also changes significantly. Not necessarily to the better though.
Lofoten Summer
It has been a long day at this moment already, and we’re still searching for the location we have noticed in the distance. Still without success, and as it will turn out, we will never find “the spot”. Along the road though, we run into a few other beautiful scenes. Such as this one. It is a wonderful and silent place, and I take my time composing a few images.
The Second Frost
It had been the third day with gorgeous light in a row, something that I believe to be happening rather rarely during this time of year. Two days ago, I used the chance to visit this small beach, named Isoniemi at sunset and photographed this island in a nice warm light evening light alongside with some interesting structures on the ice. It was very cold then, and at home I got some more ideas for this location.
Hailuoto Revisited - November 2010
Hailuoto, Finland, November 2010 It’s early November now, about one and half month’s away from the darkest day of the year, and it becomes increasingly difficult to find the time to do landscape photography. The forecast showed clouds and sun just in time for sunset and I wanted to use this chance. It might take quite some time, before I have another one. twitter.com/SvenSeebe… I’m sitting in my car on the ferry which will bring to me to the island of Hailuoto and light snow is falling on the car.
The Last Chance
Sometimes things turn out totally different from what you have planned. This morning I planned to do a long exposure of a structure at the nearby sea and since the sun rises nowadays already quite late I wasn’t in a hurry. The sky last night and the forecast for today looked promising, but once I headed out to the car I found out that it obviously started to snow during the night.
Unexpected Company
Somehow landscape photography is always full of surprises. Every now and then something unexpected happens. Most of the time it’s just the weather turning bad just an hour before the best light after having a beautiful, occasionally though, something surprisingly nice happens. In the beginning of the year it was a group of whales slowly passing by in the fjord in front of us. Last year it were seals, and this year I got unexpected company by a cute little fox.
St.Just Rock
Geez, I miss the sea. There’s nothing more refreshing than a strong wind and heavy waves crashing on the rocks. While preparing my e-book I re-discovered this image in my library and took some time to process it in a way I envisioned the image. I was tipped to the coast near St.Just by a local photographer here in Cornwall earlier that morning and spontaneously made my way here.
Rocked Tree
Todays explore starts on a beach called Utakleiv on the north coast of the Lofoten islands. Waiting in beautiful sunlight the whole day for the sun to set, or better to get at least closer to the horizon, just in time for the golden hour clouds show up. A little too much for my taste. While the scenery is still great, it appears that the conditions might be a little better on another part of the island.
A Short Trip to Kukkolankoski
Kukkolankoski, 22 o’clock. The alarm shrieks me out of my dreams and I realize that I napped at least a few hours in the front seat of my old and trusted Toyota. In two days we’re heading out to the Lofoten islands and I used the day to get some missing items for that trip. As I’m already in Sweden I revisited this location, called Kukkolankoski. I have been here once before in bad weather on the road to Norway last year and decided to return today as I was already quite close.
Rocks and Ropes
The forecast announced bad weather for the next few days which made me changing my plans and head out already today. Originally I intended to go far up into the north but that was unreachable for today and I rather chose to explore a few locations which I scouted already during winter. The first was a little rocky beach around 70km up to the north. The conditions were fairly well and that little island in the back was nicely lit from the side.
Waiting For The Light
As time was limited only a rather close location seemed to be useful and I decided to return to that little island in the forest. I was hoping for warmly lit trees, nice colours in the sky and reflections in the lake. Sometimes it’s just doesn’t come together though. Too many clouds in the wrong place, too much wind and no reflections whatsoever. I had to make a quick decision and decided to return to another location 20km from here at the beach.
Norway Revisited
It’s only a few weeks since I had been visiting the beautiful scenery of Norway, but it feels a long time ago and since work and basic life have come back it feels I have to go back as soon as possible. It has to wait for another year though… The few days me and my wonderful girlfriend had there had passed too quickly and we were lucky to find good weather conditions.
Cornwall - The Last Days
The alarm wakes me up at 4am. Not only do I realize that I have fallen asleep on the sofa again, I also hear the heavy rain hammering on the window. Disappointed I decide to go back to sleep and doze off again. When I wake up at 7.30 I hear birds singing. I get up and see clouds and blue sky. What a crap! Now I’m seriously angry at myself, but it should get even worse.
Cornwall - The Next Few Days
The alarm on my iPhone shrieks multiple times when I realize that I fell asleep on the sofa in front of the TV. It’s three o’clock and I planned to go back to the area around Prussia Cove for a shoot at sunrise. My legs and my back hurt badly after carrying all my gear yesterday for around 20 km. I head out with all my gear, but I manage only around 500m before my legs and my back start to hurt so much again that I decide to go back to bed for another two hours and return to St.
Cornwall - The first days
It’s eleven o-clock and I my train is leaving in little less than two hours when I to my surprise receive my recently ordered new Tripod-Head. Just in time, A Manfrotto Junior Geared Head. twitter.com/SvenSeebe… I already gave up the thought that I will appear in time but luck was with me. I do a quick test with it and squeeze the tripod-head into my backpack and head off to the railway station from where my journey starts.
Diary of a Shooting #1 - Hailouto-January 2009
After almost two months of an annoying mixture of snow/rain/ice the weather finally changed to the better and something blue showed up above us. Yesterdays shooting feels still fresh, and at least one strong image came out of it. As the forecast for today was promising me and a buddy of mine decided to head out again. Last night was clear, which usually means that it get’s cold and the wind is adding some extra chill to the real minus 17 degrees.