Snow is the most silent thing in the World – Insomnia
Suffering from insomnia is no fun – I can vouch for that. But being as it is – sometimes I throw my tiredness overboard deep in the darkest hours of night and shoot just a few pictures. So I did this night as well.
There’s been quite a snowfall these past few hours reaching half a meter. Snow dampens the sounds and a snow filled night like this magical night in an industrial city in Northern-Norway was no different. I hope I have been able to convey this silence through these images:
Narvik City laying silently under a thick carpet of snow
The airport beacon on the breakwater silently shines its red light on the water of The Ofoten Fjord
Even the Iron Ore Loader seems quiet over the dampening carpet of snow that covers the landscape
Silence down the street. The City Council having gambled away all our money - is forced to shut off the streetlights at night to save money.
A long exposure from the waterfront in the city. The yellow blobs that stretches out horizontally, is just the snowplow's yellow, blinking warning light as it thunders into the Fagernes Tunnel
The City is all packed into a silencing, thick carpet of snow by the silent fjord
Not much chance of Northern Lights
The chances of seeing the fantastic aurora these days are slim to none with this kind of weather…
Norway did it! – FANTASTIC Biathlon Championships 2012, Ruhpolding Germany! – Thank You!
What a fantastic week! I don’t know what has impressed me most. There have been so many memorable moments, I can hardly count them. When the Norwegian men worked their way up from a 19th place, after their first shooting, and scored the gold medal this Friday I was a total wreck from excitement.
And today Tora Berger did a fantastic effort which placed Norway firmly at the top op of the Medal Statistics this World Championship 2012 in Ruhpolding. I don’t know where that woman gets her strength from… She seemed so enormously tired today from all the races she has been doing this week, but she did it – gathered unimaginably strength and won the gold medal.
The entire bunch of Norwegian athletes – in the World’s Best and Finest sport – Biathlon (practically the only sport I watch) has given me so many brilliant and joyous moments this week!
Thank you:
Norwegian Athletes
Women (unordered list)
- Tora Berger (The Queen of The World Championship 2012)
- Synnøve Solemdal
- Fanny Welle-Strand Horn
- Elise Ringen
Men (unordered list)
- Emil Hegle Svendsen
- Ole Einar Bjørndalen (The King of Biathlon)
- Rune Bratsveen
- Tarjei Bø
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| Ole Einar Bjørndalen (photo: Okino) |
Tora Berger (photo: Jarle Vines Jarvin) |
Emil Hegle Svendsen (photo: Jarle Vines Jarvin) |
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| Synnove Solemdal (photo: Miceman) |
Rune Bratsveen (photo: Njaelkies lea (Lars Falkdalen Lindahl)) |
Elise Ringen (photo: miceman) |
Conjunction – Jupiter and Venus
I was lucky today – in between the thick cover of clouds – a sudden a very small clearing opened up and gave me a tiny window of opportunity to catch the special conjunction that is visible in the night sky this week between Jupiter (left) and Venus (right). The best conjunction to be seen for years!
Conjuntion - Planets Jupiter (left) and Venus (right) - shot tonight 6:43 pm - Ankenesstrand, Norway
Boom, then it’s gone…
Hunting northern lights is an illusive sport sometimes. Looked outside. Yep it was there. In again on with the warm clothes, fetch the camera, outside again. Nothing. Well, I guess the moonlit mountains and a vaguely overexposed city of Narvik will have to do while I am waiting for the next chance… And now it’s a cloudy weather forecast for the next few days. Typical when the sun is active and there is most certainly bound to be some aurora activity…
Waiting for the illusive aurora - watching the moonlit mountains...
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.
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