Skagen Museum
I had the unspeakable pleasure of visiting Skagen Museum – the home of the Danish Golden Age of Art. Skagen is the very northern tip of Jutland with two Oceans meeting. This gives a rare and quite magical light, which inspired the artist community, mainly of painters, but also poets, which steadily expanded in this area. Inspired by the new romantic era in Europe, where finding the “original” the “mystical” and mans struggle against nature became currents that dictated the art, Skagen was a perfect setting. A small community struggling to maintain the daily life, mainly by fishing in some of the wildest seas.
Skagen Museum is a must see! This Treasure Trove of fantastic art was a real eye opener for me. One thing is seeing all these famous paintings on TV or in magazines, quite another is to actually experience the light, the painters strokes and dimensions in “real life”… And being a public museum, they allowed photographing – without flash of course (flash-light will over time ruin the light-sensitive pigments in the painting). So I shot and looked and shot again. Mainly to perhaps pick up a few pointers for my own paintings.
Here are a few for you to enjoy – BUT like I said, this is a must see, so if you ever plan a trip to Denmark, make sure your calendar is open for a visit to Skagen, both to experience the nature first hand, but also see this – luckily – public display of some of the World’s Greatest Paintings!
Playing with Lights and Shadows
This HDR-photo is the result of playing with lights and shadows in various forms and presentations. It is great fun once you master it. The high dynamic range in these kind of photos brings out details you otherwise wouldn’t notice. The process is quite tedious though. First I shoot 7 RAW images. Then I use my own recipe on these photos through Canon Digital Photo Professional and batch process them into jpegs. Then they are processed in an HDR-system and that’s where the real magic happens. All the over- and underexposed pictures are sandwiched together, making it possible to tinker with a huge range of settings. Finally, when the tinkering is done and I find the result exciting, it is all processed into a single jpeg-file.
Here is today’s result. A quite mondane shot of the Narvik peninsula surrounded by the fjord and the mountains beneath a rugged sky with intermittent clouds. A “little” RAW and HDR processing, and voila! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! If so, please hit the like buttons or write me a comment!
HDR of the Narvik peninsula, the surrounding fjords and mountains underneath a sky with intermittent clouds
Wild Version
Mountain Beauty
This snapshot was taken a few minutes ago. 300 mm lens and a polarization filter.
Mountain Beauty
Early this morning 6:05 am
Early this morning 6:05 am
Narvik Flyklubb
I designed the logo on the front page of the new homepage for the aeroclub in Narvik. It says: Save Narvik Airport Framnes -fly for life!
A few politicians and moneymen in Narvik have decided to shut down this airport and effectively cut off the population from a vital air ambulance service which saves hundreds of lives every year.
Furthermore this airport, in spite of politicians trying to strangle it by restricting commercial flights, actually has a nearly 10% annual growth in passenger traffic.
And finally it is the hub for a vibrant aerosport club. Please visit their brand new website! http://narvikflyklubb.no/
Downwind ENNK
Just wanted to throw in a few more shots from tonights flight. The first we are appr. 1,000 feet and downwind ENNK (Narvik Airport). In front port side Ankenes and Fagernes and the prominent mountain “The Sleeping Queen” in the background.
Downwnind ready to land on runway 01
Runway in sight port side - one more turn for final approach
One second from touchdown - ENNK - NVK - Narvik Airport
Streetlights below
Yet another shot from tonight, along with an Army Bell 412 Special Performance which took a few lowpasses over the airstrip and a DASH 8 with a short stop to change passengers.
Widerøe takes off into the sunset bound for Bordø (Bodoe)
Widerøes LN-WIT taxing out to RWY 19 at 15:54
Narvik - center of the city this evening resting at the foothills of Mt. Fagernes.
Bell 412 Special Performance - Norwegian Army. Making a few lowpasses over the strip today. A very fast, stable and agile helicoptre primarily used for troop transport and evacuation of wounded. One of my favourites.
There is nothing like flying!
In the capable hands of Captain Utnes I had the rare and beautiful chance of finally get some air under the wings! A short, but lovely flight this evening. Calm weather and few clouds was the setting of seeing the city of Narvik from above with the city lights. Usually that is just passing by in a few seconds coming in or going out by the commercial flights. Howering in a small Piper Cherokee over the city gives a very different feeling and gives quite a different feeling than the “glorified busrides” a commercial liner has to offer. And when flying together with a pilot with 30 years flying experience is also a treat. Seeing how he reads his instruments, trims the plane and handles it by the book and more is a brilliant experience. And kudos, exactly when the rear wheels touched the runway the stall light gave a short indication. That is the hallmark of a perfect landing and usually says quite a lot about good piloting! More pictures will be published as I have a chance to process them.
The Ofoten Fjord this evening seen over the wing of Lima November
The Moon and The Fagernes Mountain
A huge composite image of The Fagernes Mountain
Fagernes Mountain and the moon
Pink Aurora
My friend Øystein Lunde Ingvaldsen has shot this brilliantly breathtaking Aurora Borealis shot of Værøya (Vaeroeya) in Vesteraalen. This is just one photo of extremely many absolutely stunning photos that you can enjoy at www.lundeimages.com Read more about Lunde Images in the column to the right under “special friends with special talents”!
Pink Aurora (photo: Ostein Lunde Invaldsen)
Today’s HDR
What this photo doesn’t tell you is that i ran out and into an ankle deep slush ice to capture these photos that this HDR-photo (High Dynamic Range) consists of. It was cold… Sometimes one has to suffer to get a good shot. Please, enjoy behind a warm, cozy computer screen!
HDR of the Narvik peninsula 2nd of March 2012
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