After the fireworks the evening before, I woke up early feeling maybe not rested, but energetic. I wanted to try to get a similar shot to the first one of the trip, where the sunrise just touches the tops of some mountains. I couldn't really find a great location, but I thought I'd try the beach I was at earlier. There was a gap between the mountains which might be enough for the sun to sneak through.
Pre-dawn blue hour. I was hoping to catch the sun in the water as well, but no such luck.
Turns out the mountains weren't cooperating with me, and I didn't get any rays of sun. It wasn't a big surprise, the chances were low from the beginning. I was just happy to have the energy back after a few crappy mornings. And even if I didn't get a sunrise, there was still one photo I wanted to take while the weather was peaceful. This one is another ripoff from Mr. Heaton, but it doesn't matter to me. It's a nice shot to have. Right next to Hamn, there is a small rocky island with a single house on it. The way to get on the island is a small suspension bridge, which looks pretty cool. The water around the island is so clear you can easily see the sand on the bottom.
I didn't venture far that day, I had way too much fun looking through the images I had shot so far. And I hadn't even gotten to the main attraction yet, the Lofoten islands. While I was looking at the images, I kept tabs on the weather; after many days of blue skies a bank of clouds was making it's way towards me. It didn't look as enough to ruin sunset, fortunately. I just had to pick where I wanted to go.
Even though I had a nice pic from Tungeneset, I decided to go back there for sunset, early enough this time so that I could choose the spot I wanted. The incoming clouds had also brought some waves with them, so I settled down with my composition, taking images while the waves crashed on the rock. There were a few glints of direct sunlight, but the clouds blocked most of the light. That was OK, I had taken a look at the images from the previous day and I knew I had a colorful one already; now I just took another kind of image.
One with (some) color
And one without :)
Very serious. Yes. It took me around 15 tries to get this right; it's tricky when you can't see the composition (or sharpness) when you are in front of the lens.
From the road back to the cabin. The viewing platform of epicness is in the valley top right, looking this way.
Looking back, it really was a productive 4 days on Senja, even if it didn't feel like that at times. I have a lot of photos to be proud of, and I learned a lot taking them. The fact that I've been doing this for more than 6 years and I still have a lot that I don't know is what keeps me going. Although, at times I do wonder why I'm freezing my ass off at the side of a fjord 1500 km from home.
The next day was a travel day again; I had a long drive ahead of me to reach my next accommodation in Leknes. I was hoping that I'd make it in time to get to a sunset location; but with the short days and the long drive, I wasn't sure. This time I did remember to charge to GoPro during the night.
One thing that I had expected to see during my trip was reindeer. I've seen and heard countless tales of reindeer filling up roads so that you can't pass. I had seen plenty of road signs warning of them and moose during my driving. But the one place I saw reindeer wasn't where I'd expected them.
Umm, hi? Would you mind moving, I have to pack my car.
Thank you! Sorry to disturb. I'll drive away shortly.
The drive itself was pretty crazy. As you can see, it started off well. Around negative 5 degrees and sunshine, it was no problem driving along the beautiful vistas. Then, somewhere after Narvik, the clouds hit. And I mean hit; out of nowhere, I was in a blizzard. And then it cleared. And then I was in a blizzard again. And then it cleared. It was probably the most stressful drive I've ever done. I actually completely forgot to eat lunch that day. I also didn't take any footage of the blizzard, that's how hard I had to concentrate on keeping on the road.
The nice thing about sudden blizzards is that when they leave, they produce absolutely fantastic light. I was lucky enough to catch a few photographs on the way when this happened; they were truly fleeting moments.
Just some haze over Narvik, this is fine.
Driving through Svolvær, very gingerly.
Probably my favorite image from the whole trip. I got really lucky, being in the right place at the right time.
So, after a long stressful drive with just a few candy bars instead of food, I finally arrived in Leknes. I had chosen Leknes because it is basically in the middle of the south Lofoten islands, and everything was a relatively short drive away. Also, Leknes is a city, and as such it has services available, such as food stores. Which I ignored, because as soon as I had met the landlord and gotten the key, I drove away to get a sunset shot.
My target was the well-known Haukland beach. I was a little too fast though, because I didn't drive all the way there; there are two beaches at Haukland, and the northern one is the 'correct' one. I was in such a rush I didn't even notice. I ran down the beach, found a composition, and snapped off a bracketed exposure. And just like that, the light was gone. The resulting image has a few nice elements, but it's not one of my favorites. For now, it had to do.
The color is weird in this one, I don't really know how to fix it. One of those images I have to come back to in a few months.
The sun set, and I went to the local supermarket to buy myself some dinner. The rest of the evening went into planning; so many locations, so little time. Exhausted, I quickly drifted off to deep sleep.