Notes From Norway
We recently completed our two-week trip to northern Norway and I would like to submit my thoughts on the trip and especially my photography experience.
Our trip was split into three parts based on location. Senja, east Lofoten, and west Lofoten.
General thoughts on Norway:
They’re not all about tourism. It seems like a normal place that happens to be amazingly beautiful. For example, these places are mainly fishing villages that are not especially geared toward tourism. That is a bit surprising especially in Reine. That aspect of Norway is actually quite refreshing. The roads are narrow and there is constantly construction and other issues that slow progress. There are not nearly enough roadside pullouts to enjoy the scenery. The electric lines are right in the way of virtually every amazing scene.
It rains a lot.
The trails are soggy and go straight up, no switchbacks.
It’s expensive, especially food
The speed limits are slow but that’s seems appropriate given the road conditions.
Finally, it’s stunningly beautiful. Mountains, water, clouds, fishing villages, everything. Just gorgeous.
Except for all the power lines everywhere. Please stop with the power lines.
There were beautiful mountains everywhere. Not just on Sonja and near Reine. They were everywhere. I was blown away!
So many rainbows. Can’t forget the many rainbows, seemingly everywhere all the time, at least until the dense clouds at the end of the trip prohibited any additional rainbow formation.
Construction on E10. It was frustrating at times, so checking on construction in the area is critical to manage expectations of travel time.
Senja
We stayed at the Segla Bed-n-Go in Fjordgård.
We had a gorgeous drive from Evenes. Mountains, lakes, fall colors.
At Fesnes I was surprised to see an industrial plant on the lake right next to a beautiful mountain.
Senja was amazing! So amazingly beautiful. Epic mountains, fjords and quaint villages everywhere.
The roads were paved for the most part and there were a lot of tunnels out at the fjords. The roads and tunnels were narrow and sketchy at times.
We had a great Aurora show our first night there. We were at the house and were running back and forth between the front and back depending on what was most active. That lasted close to an hour before it died out. I used my Sony 16-35 lens and my settings were f2.8, 0.5-1 sec, ISO 3200. I was shooting from my tripod. Unfortunately that was our last good Aurora show. We could see it a little bit every night but not with the same intensity.
Photography on Senja was standard landscape or cityscape settings. I was shooting at 1/100-1/400 for the most part, f8-f11, and variable ISO depending on the lighting conditions.
We went on two hikes starting in Fjordgård up the mountain to great viewpoints which resulted some of the best photos of the trip. Unfortunately, we did not end up hiking more often during the trip.
Our favorite spots on Senja:
Gibostad
Husøy
The resort near Gryllefjord - Hamn i Senja.
Tungeneset. Unbelievable!
The mountains and fjords in north Senja. All of them.
The little beach at the end of the road- Laukvikastrand.
East Lofoten - near Harstad
We stayed at the WonderInn Arctic, in Cloud 9, a glassed-in sleeping area where we could see the stars and Aurora at night. It was amazing!
It was by the shore so we spent a lot of time there. I took many photos across the water since the mountains on the other side were quite picturesque.
There was a personal jacuzzi at our cabin so we used it every day. Nice!
On day 1 we drove to Henningsvaer. The journey was just as amazing as the destination. As above, the scenery was incredible everywhere. Henningsvaer was a wonderful place to visit. The village was quaint, fairly quiet and there were a fair number of tourists there. We did go to the football pitch and it was cool, as expected. It was nice to see how quaint the rest of the village was, and the mountains nearby were amazing. But there was hardly anywhere to eat that was actually open. Again, they were not catering to the many tourists that visited there.
On day 2 we changed it up and instead of driving we stayed close and took a ferry to the small islands near Harstad and made a day of it. It really was incredible. Quaint, quiet, and picturesque. We visited the old yellow home with the sod roof, and then visited the harbor. Stopped to take photos of the various views, especially the mountains across the water. We then went to a smaller island and took a walk along the shore that had some incredible views. As we walked back there were sheep on the shore which was funny and exciting.
The following morning we left early to drive to Sakrisøy. As we were driving along a rural road near our place, we happened upon a female moose and her two calves, and Kelly saw another female moose. While this was happening I saw a fox cross the road. Then further on we saw a male moose near the road eating breakfast. Unbelievable! I got some good photos of the male moose with my Sony a7riv and Tamron 28-200 on zoom.
As usual, we stopped frequently to see and photograph the many sights along the way. The many mountains, water features, clouds, and dappled sunlight made for many excellent compositions.
We stopped in Leknes for gas and lunch before somehow slipping through the major construction site after Leknes and on to our accommodations for the week, the Sakrisøy Rorbuer.
West Lofoten-Sakrisoy
We stayed for 6 nights at the Sakrisoy Borbuer.
We explored Hamnoy, Sakrisoy, and Reine quite extensively. Interestingly, Reine has really limited parking and is quite an extensive area made up of several small islands, so it was difficult to walk all around given the absence of sidewalks.
There are dramatic scenes in this area, with clouds and sun mixing quite nicely with the majestic mountains and quaint villages.
The weather played a factor with rain interjecting on a daily basis. That resulted in some limited time out each day, with Wednesday being a total wash out. Sometimes it wasn’t the rain that limited photographic opportunities but a lack of light due to dense clouds.
We visited the Fredvang area to hike to Kvalvika Beach. But the trail was marshy, then rocky and steep, and proved to be frustrating and I think dangerous. So we turned back and instead went to the nearby beach where we had a lovely time.
We went to Nusfjord and it was a nice time, a quaint village in a dramatic fjord setting. But the weather limited our visit somewhat so we left before we could make a full exploration. But the surrounding area was quite amazing and I took some nice landscapes on the way there and back. We also saw some great rainbows on the way back, at Skagsanden Beach. In addition, I captured dramatic color on some distant mountains.
We visited Moskenes and Å, which also proved to be amazing places in their own right. But the weather was quite a problem, and it was sleeting and raining much of the day.
One note on the sleet. It was quite cold one day and the following morning we found a dusting of snow on the nearby peaks. Because of the cold conditions that day and ongoing precipitation, the amount of snow on the mountains actually managed to increase as the day went on. The snow on the peaks made for some amazing photos, which I did my best to capture.
Most of the days we were able to walk around Sakrisoy and Hamnoy or Reine since we were staying right there. That was really nice, as I was able to make photos of sunrise, sunset, and other nice light whenever I noticed something. Since it was cloudy most nights I was unable to capture any stars or aurora while staying there.
On Thursday after Wednesday’s washout, we were again limited in the morning by rain and dense clouds. So when the rain started to break and we were bored out of our minds, we went on a local hike to Skalvika Lake, with a 600 ft ascent up the side of a local mountain. But it was still raining. And after nearly 2 straight days of rain the trail was quite soggy and there was a stream running down much of the path. Plus the trail went straight up the side of the mountain. No switchbacks, no managing the steepness of the climb. It wasn’t too difficult but the soggy path and nearly vertical trail were frustrating. So we abandoned the hike about 3/4 of the way up. We were soggy and had enough of the bad trail.
It was after this messy hike that the rain started to really taper off and on the way back we noticed some sunlight filtering through the clouds, lighting up the mountains in a most dramatic way. So we spent about an hour photographing the mountains and villages in this nice afternoon light.
Friday we drove back to Evenes for a Saturday AM flight to Oslo. I insisted we stop at Uttakleiv beach to photograph the Dragon’s Eye in the rocks near the beach. The Dragon’s Eye is a round-ovoid rock in a small pool of water that really looks like a large red eye. Having seen photos of it when researching this trip, I really had to photograph it myself. Of course, it was raining again. Google maps had a really accurate pin pointing to the Dragon’s Eye so it was easy to find. But in the rain, gusting winds, and dense clouds it was challenging to photograph. I had on my Tamron 28-200 lens but it wasn’t wide enough to get the Dragon’s Eye and the surrounding mountains in the background. So in the rain I switched to my Sony 16-35 GM ii to obtain a wider perspective, which was much better. I somehow managed to switch lenses without getting water on my sensor. I also added a polarizing filter to reduce glare on the water and a slight ND effect. I looked for a ND filter for the Sony lens but I seem to have left them at home. I set up the tripod and set it low in order to get the mountains in the frame along with the Dragon’s Eye. It worked OK but I wasn’t that satisfied with my perspective, my focus, and my exposure. It just seemed wrong. And with the rain, wind gusts, and slippery rocks it was really difficult conditions. I was playing with manual focus so I could focus on the rock under the water, which was a great and necessary move. I was adjusting exposure as I was initially overexposing because I wanted a slow shutter speed to even out the water. But my lack of a ND filter did not allow that. So I sped up the shutter speed to about 1/30, kept aperture at f8, and the ISO was at 100. Those settings seemed to be ideal. Plus I was manually focusing on the bottom of the pool. That seemed to do the trick for the best photos. Finally, I felt that the tripod was limiting my flexibility with regard to perspective so I shot handheld to get the best angle. I was then able to lower the camera even more and make sure I had the mountains in addition to the subject. I also noticed that the waves were really causing some big splashes against the nearby rocks, so I changed my view to include the splash in addition to the Dragon’s Eye and the mountains. Since I was shooting handheld I was able to change my angle on the fly to include what I needed in the frame at the moment. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a large wave was approaching the shore and was going to hit a very large rock nearby. I thought it very likely that there would be a huge splash against that rock. So I quickly shifted my position to include that rock in my composition, while keeping the Dragon’s Eye in focus, keeping the mountain in the background, and keeping my camera level. Somehow it all came together and I got the shot. That might just be the best shot of the trip. It was certainly the most difficult to shoot, so I was quite proud of that photo.
Photography Notes:
As noted above, most of my photos had standard landscape photography settings: 1/100-1/400, sometimes faster or slower depending on conditions; f8-f11; ISO manual and variable based on lighting conditions to get an optimal and realistic exposure. I use manual mode, AF-S focus mode, Auto white balance.
First, on manual mode. Aperture priority seems to be popular these days, but since I usually shoot handheld and don’t find Auto ISO satisfactory for an optimal exposure, I really prioritize shutter speed to avoid blurry photos from slow shutter speeds when shooting handheld. So I just don’t find aperture priority to be acceptable for my photography style. So I use manual mode. I dial in the settings I want so I always get an optimal exposure. Plus with my style of photography I don’t change my settings very much. To explain: As a travel-landscape-cityscape photographer my settings are generally pretty static. I dial in f8-f11 and rarely change it during any particular photoshoot. I dial in my shutter speed at 1/100 - 1/400 and I generally don’t change it either. I will occasionally adjust shutter speed but not that often. Finally, I use either auto ISO or dial in my ISO manually and adjust it based on current lighting conditions. I found on this last trip I dialed my ISO up or down pretty frequently to ensure an optimal exposure for each shot. But the ISO didn’t require adjustment with each shot, only when the light changed. So most of the time I didn’t have to change any of the settings during a particular photoshoot, just an occasional ISO adjustment.
For ISO I often start with somewhere between 100 and 640. I really prefer 640 unless it’s too bright then I will dial it down toward 100. ISO 640 for the Sony a7riv is almost equivalent to ISO 200 for noise in the photo. So I will often go right to 640 and start there. Since the photo editing software is so good at reducing noise I will comfortably dial ISO up to 3200 without worrying about noise. Plus, as they say, a sharp photo will not have appreciable noise even at high ISO values. So I find ensuring sharp and well exposed photos more important than what ISO I have dialed in.
Regarding auto white balance. I do realize that it will sometimes result in an overly blue color cast. But knowing that allows me to adjust white balance in LRC as needed. This issue is most challenging in low light conditions, so my understanding of white balance in these situations is a work in progress.
I used polarizing filters quite often, but not always. Northern Norway has soft sunlight and it was really cloudy most days, so polarizing filters were not always needed even during the day. But I still lean towards using them even in cloudy conditions. I love magnetic filters but I lost another magnetic lens cap, so I need to figure how this keeps happening.
Tripod. I used my tripod for my Aurora photos and for some of my Dragon’s Eye photos. Otherwise I always shoot handheld so have no use for a tripod in my day-to-day photography. I may like to use a tripod more often but since I generally shoot while moving around it wouldn’t work that well for me in most circumstances. I have not often been shooting waterfalls lately or trying to slow down water motion which I hope to do more of in the future, such as in my upcoming Iceland trip. In those cases I will need to use tripods and ND filters much more often.
Photograph quality. The vast majority of my photos seem to be sharp and well exposed using my previously described photography methods. I can use my star ratings as a proxy for image quality. Out of 3202 images, I only had 66 photos rated 1 or 2 stars. Most of those 1-2 star photos are blurry which means they are technically poor. Therefore the percent of 1-2 star photos during this trip is a measure of technical quality and on this trip was only 2%. Regarding artistic quality, such as composition, I can compare the number of photos rated 4-5 stars with those rated 3 stars. As above, the 1-2 star photos are poor from a technical standpoint. But the 3 star photos are technically correct but not artistically pleasing. So to rate my photos artistically I can compare the 3 star photos with the 4-5 star photos. My 4-5 star photos were 72% and 3 star photos 27%. Perhaps the ultimate review is the number of 5 star photos (outstanding technical and artistic quality) as a percent of total images taken, which was 11%. One major limitation to this process for analyzing image quality is that this is a self rating methodology which is inherently biased toward higher ratings. But I do cull some of the 4 star photos down to 3 stars or boost them to 5 stars after they are processed. I do find it difficult to differentiate between the ratings sometimes, as I don’t have a formal rating system for photo rating. I do have one in development and will write a blog about in the future.
Photography Notes Based on Location:
The Aurora Borealis was amazing. It was hectic because our view was obstructed by the house and we were constantly moving from the front to the back and visa versa. In the future we should find a place with a 360 degree field of view.
The fjords on Senja. This area was amazing. It was sometimes challenging to find compelling compositions because there wasn’t always foreground interest or other artistic elements to enhance the amazing mountains/fjords.
Shooting Segla from the ridge next to it was incredible. What an unreal view! I’m really glad we hiked up there despite the challenges.
Tungeneset was incredible. I was able to find two different ponds to shoot reflection photos, which made those photos even more compelling.
It was great hiking to the top of Arnekka (sp?) next to or above Fjordgård. When possible, hiking to the top of views makes it more amazing. The views and photos from that viewpoint were really awesome.
As above, our travels around northern Norway made it clear that there were amazing mountains everywhere we looked. But that was not all. There were great water features, fall colors (what?!), quaint villages, and a bit of wildlife. All over the place. Unbelievable!
The small places that were not well known produced wonderful scenes and great photos, almost as much as the epic locations. Especially true for those travel photography style photos, but the landscapes were also really epic everywhere.
The places on Senja were very much working towns, not at all touristy. Husoy exemplifies this. It was really a working fishing village in a big way. And it was really picturesque at the same time, both the buildings and the amazing fjord setting with awesome mountains all around. Plus there were great moody clouds most days.
Gibostad really captured our hearts. It was super quaint with great views in and around the harbor. Plus moody clouds. There were also great views across the water on the mainland. Really cool buildings around town. Just a great place to visit, may be worth staying there during a future visit.
Hamn i Senja is a small resort in the western part of Senja, near Gryllefjord. Super cool nautical theme right on the edge of the fjord and a bunch of small islets. Really neat vibes all around.
Harstad was a nice photo location. There were some really pretty Scandinavian buildings on the water’s edge. And we just walked a little bit, probably many more cool views if we looked around more.
Driving in the predawn time in the rural area near Harstad we saw 5 different moose and a fox. The photos were super cool.
Henningsvaer was a great place for photos. The harbor was photogenic, the football pitch was really cool, and the mountains in the background really added to it. It was in part a bit touristy but also much of it was residential and they seem to want to maintain some normality there.
Driving the E10 there were amazing photo scenes along the entire route. There was just too much to shoot it all. Plus there weren’t nearly enough viewpoints to pull off the road for more photos, especially in the following spots:
The area of Laupstad-Vestpollen
The area near Flakstad
The area near Myrland
There are too many places to list them all
Nusfjord was a picturesque small fishing village which was popular with tourists so not as ideal since there were other places at least as photogenic without all the tourists.
When we went to Uttakleiv beach to see the Dragon’s Eye, that whole area blew us away. The combo of being out of the way, the beaches, the mountains, all of the above made it amazing. Will definitely explore more during future visits.
The beaches here are really nice, and not busy (in September and cool). Generally make for great photos.
The Reine area was amazing as expected. Photos were awesome. Hamnoy was super quaint with multiple amazing views. Certainly my favorite for photos. Sakrisoy is smaller and more basic with more limited compelling scenes. But there are great photos to be had. Reine is difficult because of limited parking, it’s located along E10 with a lot of traffic and no sidewalks, and not as familiar since we weren’t staying there. But with some persistence there are many compelling photo scenes.
In the Reine area our photo opportunities were a bit limited since we couldn’t take the ferry down the fjord, could not paddle kayaks, and had limited hiking due to the weather and mud. So there would definitely be additional photo opportunities if it were easier to get into the backcountry. Perhaps that is why visiting in the summer is so popular.
Going down the road to the Moskenes, Tild, and Å areas showed them to be quaint villages as well with some nice mountains in the background but not quite as dramatic as in the Reine area. The trails near Å do promise better photos than what you can see from the road or villages. Probably true for all locations. Which leaves more room for future exploration…
The End