"A man is a very small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders." -Lord Dunzany

Posts tagged “Ofoten Fjord

One of my photos featured in Tesla Motors article

My panorama photo featured in an article by Tesla Motors

I have been fortunate to have one of my photos featured in an article by the electric car company Tesla Motor. The article is about my ophthalmologist Jens Kratholm – a Tesla superowner with no less than 7 Teslas in his automotive fleet!

Within a short time I have provided the world renowned media company Trollbäck+Company and now Tesla Motors with my photos. I am really happy and honored that not only my regular readers – but also major companies notice my photographic work! This article was picked up by several major newspapers, including The New York Times.

You can read the Tesla Motors article by clicking here!

 


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Evensong for the Fjord

I am crazy busy!

Therefore I have a question for your readers: Would you rather have me post photos without all the texts and explanations (which takes a lot of time to write), rather than no photo at all?

Here is one from yesterday! Please enjoy! And you make med extremely happy every time you hit the Like-button!

Evensong for The Fjord

Evensong for The Fjord – this is how dark it gets here in the Arctic Region of Narvik right now. Photo taken on May 19. 2013 at 11:34 pm


Golden Top

The sun is shining on the mountain tops. In not very long, it will shine on the city after a long time in the darkness. First sign of spring.

First Sign of Springtime

First Sign of Springtime


Report from last night – Tonight G1..!

I am crazy busy today – but I just popped by my blog to show my readers an example of last night activity. The Kp-index was steadily around five, which at these latitudes is high (northern lights activity normally starts at Kp 2/3. Tonight there is a geomagnetic storm coming with an estimated strength of G1 (the scale goes from G0 – no activity to G5 where all hell breaks loose and satellites gets their curcuitboards fried and powergrids here on Earth fails).

Unfortunately there were strong winds and quite a bit of rain and partly cloudy yesterday. But still the build up to the storm was quite obvious in between the clouds!

Strong Auroral Activity is seen in between the Clouds last night.

Strong Auroral Activity is seen in between the Clouds last night.


And another one from yesterday!

Aurora borealis above the Ofoten Fjord with the mountain Veggen in the background as seen from Ankenes yesterday.

Aurora borealis above the Ofoten Fjord with the mountain Veggen in the background as seen from Ankenes yesterday.


Fantastic aurora!

Standing there in the darkness – jumping up and down like a little kid at Christmas – and shouting -Yes! and Aaaah!, I probably look quite silly for a grown man, but every occasion like yesterday is exactly like Christmas to me! The Aurora borealis – Northern Light is so awe-inspiring that I wish all the japanese, Korean and Chinese tourist here in Norway could see it! They really are memories for a lifetime. Last night Kp-index was 3 (2 and above means chances to see northern lights at these latitudes). Today the Kp is even higher, at 5 – so I am soooo hoping for equally crisp, clear skies and even bigger lights!

I managed to get great many shots yesterday. And I had company. Danielle came down to the water with her boyfriend and I helped her getting into the fine techniques of shooting Northern Lights photographs.

And another bonus last night was the swarms of beautiful meteorites. I belive it must have been the orionides that should be passing just these days. Although my camera was pointed in the wrong directions, when I got home, I found that actually three of my photos had captured these beautiful sights. My head was obviously pointing in the wrong direction at these points, as I didn’t see them until I started flipping through the shots.

Well, here is a tiny fraction of last night’s phenomenal photo shoot. Enjoy!

Northern Lights stretching all the way form to the North of Narvik and all the way to the South-West above Vestfjorden. To the left Ankenes, and to the right Veggen and Forratangen. In the center Kjeldebotn.

Strong meteor (shooting star) between the lighthouse in Ankenes and aurora.

Strong meteor (shooting star) between the lighthouse in Ankenes and aurora.

Northern Lights above the Narvik peninsula last night

Danielle catching the last of the show

Northern Lights photographer Danielle catching the last of the show


The Winter Creeps up on us – or should I say down

Took this photo today of the Roasme Mountain range, and winter is just 1,000 meters away from us now. Soon we’ll be engulfed by the magic of snow..!

Winter is coming - the snow coveres mountain peaks gets whiter by the day

Winter is coming – the snow coveres mountain peaks gets whiter by the day


Et Voila!

I reported on clear skies and a hope for northern light yesterday. And my dreams came through! Here is the first of the photos. It was a “flash” at the beginning of the show, and the reason why I picked this, is simply because of the really cool reflections in the fjord. This was taken at 20 seconds exposure, which makes it kind of blurry, but still it came out nice with a little adjustments for white balance.

Northern Lights behind clouds reflecting into the Ofoten Fjord. Narvik peninsula to the right.

Northern Lights behind clouds reflecting into the Ofoten Fjord. Narvik peninsula to the right.


Flamy Clouds

Was on my way to the store to stock up for det weekend, when I stumbled on this beautiful cloud. So out with the camera, and as it happened, I decided to go for an HDR-photo. So this photo is a composite of 3 photos shot with different exp. comp. (-1 to +1).

Dramatic and beautifully painted clouds above the inner parts of Ofoten Fjord by Ankenes / Narvik (please click photo to see the full size)

Dramatic and beautifully painted clouds above the inner parts of Ofoten Fjord by Ankenes / Narvik (please click photo to see the full size)


Silent Night by the Fjord

Shot this composite last night. The growth of forest here on Ankenes is tremendous, but not many seems to care. Thus just popping out to get a shot of the beautiful scenery gets harder and harder due to obstruction of trees.

Anyway, was about to go to bed, when very calm water in Narvik harbor basin lured me with its beautiful reflections to set up my tripod and take a few shots. Unfortunately, a lot of the view is now totally obscured by the trees growing ever bigger around here.

Panorama of a calm Narvik Harbor Basin (please, click on the picture to see the full size)

Panorama of a calm Narvik Harbor Basin (please, click on the picture to see the full size)


Second Day of Summer

14. April is – according to the ancient Norwegian calendars, Runic Calendars (primstav) the first day of summer. Hence today would be the second day of summer. As you can see, the fjord today is calm like on a beautiful summer day – but the snow reveals that we still have som way to go before the spring feeling turns into a summer feeling…

Second Day of Summer by the Ofoten Fjord

Second Day of Summer by the Ofoten Fjord


Grand Finale – Northern Lights

The night is getting lighter and soon the Midnight Sun will be shining – thus making it impossible to see the spectacular phenomenon – Northern Lights (Aurora borealis). But still the night is dark enough to se the occasional Northern Lights. Although I am too busy at the moment to spend hours out in the cold gazing for this beautiful light show – yesterday I just had to.

I only shoot photos in RAW-mode. Hence it takes a lot of hard, manual labor to “develop” them into JPEGs suitable for showing here. And there it is again time… Well, I’ve processed one with the planet Venus shining brightly through the vail of the Northern Lights above the Ofoten Fjord.

Northern Lights yesterday - Venus is shining through the vail of Northern Lights

Northern Lights yesterday - Venus is shining through the vail of Northern Lights


And – it’s been a beautiful day, too

Ofoten Fjord this lovely spring day

Ofoten Fjord this lovely spring day