Hebridean New Year

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Luskentyre beach isle of harris

Photo: Dawn at Luskentyre beach, Isle of Harris, Scotland.  January 2011

December already…

In what seems to be quickly turning into an annual tradition, I’m making plans to head up to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides to bring in the new year.  More specifically we’ll spend New Year’s eve in the tiny, cosy thatched roof hostel on Berneray, where I’ve brought in the last two years.  After that, the schedule is open, with a week to explore the Uists, Harris and Lewis.  And on the 12 hour drive back to Wales we’ll probably take a night or two in Glen Coe to break up the drive a bit.

I’m a bit worried about a repetition of last year’s festival of wind and gales, which if you asked me to describe in one word, I would say: shit!  Two words: Total shit!. Three words: well you get the picture…  So far the weather has been a fair amount calmer and colder (which is good), so hopefully conditions are closer to two years ago where there were at least a couple calm days to be had, and some snow on the islands, which makes for nice photos.  But being the north of Scotland at the darkest time of the year, just about any type of bad weather is possible.  On the bright side, at least I wont have to worry about midges…

Large winter waves crash against cliffs at Butt of Lewis, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Photo: Winter storm crashes into coast at Butt of Lewis, Isle of Lewis, Scotland.  January 2012

Callanish standing stones lit by light at night, Isle of Lewis, Western Isles, Scotland

Photo: Callanish standing stones, Isle of Lewis, Scotland.  January 2011

 

Photo: 12 hour drive to the north, then a ferry

Lofoten Islands Autumn Photo Gallery

/3 Comments/in , , , , /by

Offersøykammen, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Sunset from Offersøykammen, Vestvågøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  October 2012

–CLICK HERE– To view Lofoten Islands Autumn 2012 gallery.  50 images.

As promised yesterday, I have a new gallery online from Autumn on the Lofoten Islands.  While I didn’t do any camping on this part of the trip, I did find myself waiting around for sunset from the tops of mountains on numerous occasions.  Often I wasn’t very successful and clouds rolled in, but I always find being in the mountains during the day’s last light to be a peaceful experience.   So even if my camera never comes out of the backpack, as longs as I’m not getting rained on, it’s worth the effort…

Of the three Autumns I’ve now traveled to Lofoten to photograph, this year was the most colorful and mildest.  Though this also meant the light was often quite flat, with the cloudy haze that I usually associate with summer occurring on many days.  It’s good weather for going out hiking, but not for brilliant photos.   Last year was also warm, but quite stormy, meaning most of the leaves were blown off the trees soon after my arrival on the islands.  But that stormy weather usually brings crisp, clear air, ideal conditions for Lofoten.  The Year 2009, my first Autumn on Lofoten, was cold and turbulent. The combination of snow covered peaks and the bright colors of Autumn was a amazing one, but weather conditions made photography quite difficult; this was when I came up with my ‘5 minute rule’ about shooting on Lofoten.

Overall I would say Autumn is my favorite season on Lofoten, as the islands really are amazing with so much color around.  For a rough Idea of dates, September 15 – October 10, are when the peak color usually occurs.  Though from my experience, many of the trees get blown leafless by the beginning of October as a big gale will usually have passed through by then.  I think this year I got quite lucky and had no strong winds.  The smaller foliage and grasses keep their color well into October, so even if the trees are gone, there is still some color about.

Himmeltinden lofoten islands norway

Photo: Dark skies over Flakstadoya from summit of Himmeltindan, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  October 2012

Lofoten Islands Summer Photos

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Horseid beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Horseid beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

–CLICK HERE– To view Lofoten Islands summer 2012 photo gallery.

I’ve uploaded the first 50 images to my archive from part 1 of my Lofoten travels this year – August/September.  Click on the above link to go to the gallery.  As seems to be normal for me with Lofoten, a majority of the images come from only a few different days at a couple locations.  Overall, it seemed to be a cool and somewhat stormy summer this year.  Lots of wind and clouds on most days, though still a few perfect calm days here and there as well. I think overall I managed a decent variety of images.  And when combined with what I shot earlier in the year in February and what I got in Autumn (I’ll post in a couple more weeks), it was a pretty good year on the islands.

I was happy to finally make it to Horseid beach, which may now be my new favorite place on Lofoten.  It is absolutely stunning out there, especially if you have to whole place to yourself.  Another highlight of the trip was a journey up Ryten for the views back down to Kvalvika beach.  Again, absolutely amazing and I’m not sure why it took me so long to get up there – though this being the first time I’ve been to Kvalvika when it actually wasn’t raining might have had something to do with it.

Ryten silhoutted against evening twilight at Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Summer twilight silhouette of Ryten from Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

 

Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Stormy sky over coast, Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

 

 

 

Berchtesgaden – Germany

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Watzmann, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany

Photo: Dawn light over Watzmann from Jenner, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany.  Oct 2012

After a few nights in the Allgäu region, and without having any sort of plan or maps, I headed to Berchtesgaden, a place that I’m at least a bit familiar with.  It was still sunny when I arrived in mid afternoon, but I knew the fog would be arriving so I wanted to get up into the mountains to escape the gloom.  I headed up to Stahlhaus, dropped off my backpack, then immediately hiked up Schneibstein.  I wanted to wait around on the summit until sunset, but the hut warden lady didn’t want me back too late, so I had to go down a bit early that desired.  But it was still amazing to be sitting at 2200 meters in the late afternoon, in October, and only wearing a t-shirt.

In the darkness of the following morning I hiked from the hut to Jenner, hoping to get an interesting photo of Watzmann at sunrise.  Wasn’t the best sunrise ever, actually was pretty boring the whole week with the almost perfectly clear skies, but the valley fog covering Königsee and Berchtesgaden was quite nice.  I wish I’d had a second camera so I could shoot some timelapse sequences of the fog as it moved around.

Schneibstein, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany

Photo: Afternoon light from summit of Schneibstein, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany.  Oct 2012

Allgäu – Germany

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

forggensee, allgaeu, germany

Photo: Twilight over Forggensee, Allgäu, Germany.  Oct 2012

After picking up my car in Munich I headed straight to perhaps my favorite region in Germany, the Allgäu.  Where rolling, cow filled pastureland meets the vertical wall of the Alpine foothills, the Allgäu is a magical place.  Combined with a late October Indian Summer, the region was bursting at the seams with tourists looking to escape the fog that cloaked the rest of Bavaria. Though despite the fullness of the parking lot as I arrived at noon, I did find myself a peaceful night as the only guest at the Ostlerhütte on Breitenberg one night.  Actually felt a bit awkward really, but I managed, helped by some good food filling my stomach and amazing views right out the door.

Allgäu sunset from Breitenberg, Germany

Photo: Sunset from Breitenberg, Allgäu, Germany.  Oct 2012

Aggenstein – Germany

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Aggenstein, germany

Photo: Moonlight silhouette of Aggenstein from Ostlerhütte, Allgäu, Germany. Oct 2012

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, You’d know that I was cruising around the Alps for a week.  And a week of absolutely fantastic weather it was.  If I actually had any idea of how good the weather turned out to be, I would’ve skipped renting a car and just done some long hut tours in the mountains.  But anyhow, I still stayed a few nights in the mountains in the Allgäu and Berchtesgaden regions.

 

Aggenstein, Germany

Photo: Climber on Aggenstein with Tannheimer Tal (Austria) in background, Allgäu, Germany.  Oct 2012

Budapest – Vienna – Alps – Heading West

/2 Comments/in , , , , /by

Vienna opera house

Photo: Vienna Opera House.  October 2012

Sometimes I think I have bad timing in life.  Leaving Lofoten on Oct 8th, I was sailing across the Vestfjorden while watching the best northern lights I’ve seen in my life.  6 weeks above the Arctic Circle and the lights finally show up when I’m on a boat and can’t take any photos! I could have cried.

Though upon arriving in Budapest, I was happy to hear the news that a few friends I had met last year while traveling through the Baltic would be in town.  A couple more late nights were to result.  Budapest as a whole was better that I remembered from 6 years ago.  I look forward to returning again.  And though I thought that the city had been cleaned up quite a bit, it was good to know that you might still need to bribe some people to help you out:

I show up at the train station in Budapest about 30 minutes before my train to Vienna is supposed to depart. I walk into the office for ‘international’ tickets and take my number to be served; 408, currently serving 379. After 10 minutes they had gotten to 381. The 2 old ladies selling the tickets made the DMV look like a model of efficiency. It wasn’t looking good…

I begin to chat with an Aussie couple also in the same bind as me when a security guard comes up and asks where we’re going. After telling him he states the he might be able to help us as walks away. A minute later he comes back and offers that if he were perhaps to receive a little ‘tip,’ he could help us get on the train. with only 10 minutes to the train, or facing a 2 hour wait until the next, we figure why not.

So he points us to another office that also sells international tickets, but isn’t marked at all and had no line. We quickly head over and get the tickets as a few minutes before departure. Split 3 ways, it cost about $2 each for the help of the guard and at least we all got on the train…

The last few days I’ve been in Vienna, my 3rd (or well really 2nd) time in the city.  I like it here, but as last time, I haven’t really been out shooting much.  Perhaps the streets are just a bit too crowded for my liking.

Tomorrow (Friday) I’m on the train to Munich and then renting at car and heading down to the Alps.  Mostly I’ll just stay in the foothills around the German – Austrian border and try to find some nice light and color.  I’ve been wanting to take a trip like this for some years, so it’s nice to finally sort-of be able to afford it.  Though I’ll pretty much have to sleep in the car the whole time as I can’t yet afford both a car and a roof over my head, so hopefully I can avoid any grumpy German police who don’t like me sleeping in some parking lot on the side of the road.  I might try and make it up to a mountain hut or two though…

After a week in the Alps I’ll be heading to Regensburg for a few nights.  My favorite city in Germany, I haven’t been there since 2009; long overdue for a return…

Vienna opera house

Photo: Vienna Opera House.  October 2012

budapest chain bridge

Photo: Chain bridge, Budapest, Hungary.  October 2012

Leaving Lofoten

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Haukland Beach sunset lofoten islands norway

Photo: Autumn sunset, Haukland beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 2012

After two weeks on Lofoten, and 6 weeks in total north of the Arctic Circle since August, it’s now that time to move on.  Tonight I take the Hurtigruten ferry to Bodø, arriving at 2am.  A couple hours ‘sleep’ in the ferry station and then I’m on a 7am flight heading south to Budapest.

These past two weeks of Autumn, which by all accounts should normally be one of the wettest times of the year, have been absolutely brilliant weather wise.  Far better than when I was here in August.  And the color was the best I’ve seen of the 3 Autumns that I’ve been here.  Though by now the season is getting late and a majority of the leaves have fallen from the trees.  In my mind I had been looking forward to dramatic, stormy light sweeping over the islands.  Instead I found mild, mostly sunny days and ended up getting in some good hikes.  Although I didn’t always have the best timing for light while in the hills and ended up waiting around for a few sunsets that never showed up.

The above and following photo are from last nights sunset at Haukland beach.  Not a bad farewell…

The only thing really missing from this trip was a good display of the Northern Lights.  Had a few faint displays the last two nights, but nothing really special.

Haukland Beach sunset lofoten islands norway

Photo: Autumn sunset, Haukland beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 2012

Stamsund Lofoten Islands Northern Lights

Photo: Moon and Northern Lights, Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct. 2012

Hermannsdalstind Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: View towards Hermannsdalstind, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Borgvåg – Lofoten Islands

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Pøbel Borgvåg Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Abandoned barn, Borgvåg, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012.

Borgvåg sits alone and isolated on the edge of the sea at the end of a gravel road.  Now mostly abandoned save for a few houses, the buildings stand as remnants of the past; waiting out their time until the day when the weather has finally taken its toll.  In 2008 two Norwegian street artists, Pøbel and Dolk, traveled to the islands to create art on some of these abandoned places.

Pøbel Borgvåg Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Borgvåg, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012.

Pøbel Borgvåg Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Borgvåg, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012.

Borgvåg Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Abandoned, Borgvåg, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012.

Stormy Sea – Stamsund

/1 Comment/in , , , /by

Stamsund Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Waves crash over rocks at Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 2012

Some blustery weather passed over the islands yesterday.  At one point I went out to a cool part of the coast beyond the hostel here in Stamsund to try and get a few photos.   Lots of sea spray in the air so I didn’t stay too long.  But this also got me thinking more about an idea/invention I’ve had on my mind for some time that could possibly be quite useful to photographers like me who often shoot near stormy seas with lots of mist.  The problem is: by the time I’ve setup the camera, composed the image, maybe checked exposure (especially if using a neutral-density filer) my lens can be so covered in sea spray that I need to stop everything and clean it off, only for it to be quickly wet again.  I need a way where I can effectively set everything up, while my lens still remains clean.  Screw on filers are too slow and cumbersome, especially if working with one hand while keeping the tripod from blowing over with the other.  Something for me to work on when I get back to California next year.

 

Stamsund Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: How close before my feet get wet? Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 2012