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…
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
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
IVS KANDA – a small ship
I caught this picture of the iron ore carrier IVS KANDA today. It is a relatively small ship in regard to what the usual tonnage of the carriers that come to Narvik usually are. IVS KANDA is from Singapore, she is going to take on iron ore at pier No 5 bound for Rostock. Right now she has been waiting in port for 11 days to get the load. It is quite busy here now with lots of carriers anchored up all around the fjord and harbor bassin. IVS KANDA is just 32,621 DWT, which is just 1/8 the size of the bigger ships coming in here to load up with the fines iron ore in the world.
So next time you thunder down the highway in your new car or you’re frying some meat in your frying pan, maybe they are made from steel that IVS KANDA transported from Narvik this cold and windy february in 2012.
Singapore's IVS KANDA waiting to be loaded with iron ore. Click the photo to see "The Big Picture"
The loader at LKAB
Weser Stahl is almost fully loaded and ready to set the course out Vestfjorden. The orange and blue machine in the background is the loader weighing 4,600 metric tonns. Below the tip of the loader you can see the black stream of iron ore pelets which has come all the way from deep down in the iron ore mines up in the Swedish mountains by train down to the all-year-round ice-free harbor of Narvik. That black stream of iron ore pellets being dumped deep into the cargo bays of the carrier is being dumped at a rate of 1-2 metric tonns per second.
Iron ore being dumped into the cargo bay of Weser Stahl today at a rate of 1-2 metric tonns per second
Erosion – a country is moving Westerly
The northern part of Jutland is at the mercy of the eroding forces from both wind and seas. The lanscape has changed radically the pas few hundred years – and continues to do so, as these pictures will show you. There isn’t much resistance in compacted sand…
A piece of driftwood worn and torn by the relentless tumbling of the North Sea and the sand - HDR-photo
Eroding sandbanks by the sea
A piece of ancient peat (rich in carbon) revealed as the sand around it erodes
Frontside and backside of erosion - grass klinging on to the moving sand
Not much resistance in these sand barrs against the wrath of the Northern Sea
The House being eaten by The Sea
On the North-West coast of Skagen I happen to stumble on this lonely house. It’s windows boarded up and with a futile attempt to stop the raging North Sea by dumping boulders around it. All the land around this house had already been reclaimed by the sea. My guess is, that it will no longer be there after a few storms. People in this area has never been able to secure long-term loans from banks if they wished to build a house in this area! It is simply to much of a risk.
On it's way into the frothing sea
Another Raabjerg Mile (Råbjerg Mile) Impression
Frozen Lake in Raabjerg Mile
Poul and Anders
My good friend Poul – who made this trip possible! It has been a fantastic and absolutely delightful week on the top of Denmark. A long with my friend Anders – the three of us has enjoyed a Gentlemen’s Vacation with Lavish Cuisines, Brilliant Wines, Beers, Whiskey and Port Wines, Grand Nature and Breathtaking Cultural Experiences. I am a really lucky man to be in such good company!
Poul in Raabjerg Mile
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