I haven’t been out taking pictures much lately, and even less showing new images to the world. Yesterday I finally pulled myself together, got up early on a Saturday and headed to a local woodland. It felt great. When I returned home after a few hours, I was refreshed and exited like I hadn’t been in months. I have had too much other stuff on my mind, so there just hasn’t been time. Or rather, I haven’t got my priorities right. I have had too much to do at work, I have spent a lot of time scanning old negatives (more on that in the next post, stay tuned!) and I am trying to sell a house in a slow market.
But after yesterday, I decided that I need to do more of all the things I want to do but postpone all the time:
So what was the outcome of yesterday’s little adventure?
There is this little valley with a stream running through it. The stream is eroding the banks, and trees growing along the stream sooner or later loos their foothold and fall over. The trees are left to themselves, crisscrossing the stream, and this creates interesting patterns and lines. By taking care to leave the sky out, I am left with a certain minimalism in the chaos, where the compositions are dominated by the white water and mossy, green tree trunks.
I also have a certain fascination for old, rotting tree stumps. They often contain a fantasy world of their own, with miniature landscapes and interesting shapes. If I find the right one, I can spend hours exploring it.
I found this one on my way back to the car. I had packed my gear, but I couldn’t resist. I especially love roots that are creeping out above ground.
I circled it for a while, trying to reveal its secrets. Then I noticed an animal’s legs:
So what is your winter like? Is it like it should be in your part of the world, or is it like here, more like two or three months later? We should have a whole lot of snow and temperatures well below freezing, instead we’ve got this.
I’d love it if you check back soon for more, I promise to make more content in the future than I have done lately.
If you haven’t read Part 1, please go ahead and do so here.
When I packed up and left the location of my sunset shoot, I had this idea that I might get the chance to do some star photography during the darkest hours of the night. But as the night progressed and I was awake quite a lot of times (if I ever really slept in the first place), I saw that it never became dark enough. At the most I could see a handful of stars, so there was no point in getting out and trying.
Around 4 am, I drove back to where I was the night before, and I set up at the same spot. I wanted to get the first sunlight on Bitihorn, and also a shot of Bygdin and the distant mountains behind it. A sunrise was right around 5 am, I had plenty of time to find my compositions. Unfortunately, there were no clouds, only a quite hazy, cloudless sky. Therefore I needed to include more ground than sky. I settled on two compositions of Bitihorn, one quite wide and one more tight.
I could not see the sun directly from my position, so as the sun rose, I had to take several shots just in case the light would be blocked by a cloud just at the right moment. But I was lucky, the sky was just as cloudless in the North-East as it was in the South and West. In the end, these were the two keepers, one of each composition:
Bitihorn sunrise, tight version. Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM @67 mm, f/8, 1/5 s, ISO 100Bitihorn sunrise, wide version. Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM @28 mm, f/8, 1/5 s, ISO 100
Which one do you like the most? Let me know in the comments. I’d also like to know which one is your favourite from my sunset shoot the evening before.
I also had a nice view of Bygdin to the West from this same spot. I just had to turn 90º to my right and adjust the focal length to get this:
Sunrise over Bygdin. Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM @76 mm, f/8, 1/4 s, ISO 100
With a nice sunrise in the can, it was time to break up and head home. On my way back to the car I came by a small field of cotton-grass (Eriophorum), backlit by the morning light. I just had to get that too.
Cotton-grass. Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM @42 mm, f/14, 1/6 s, ISO 100, focus stack.
For this to work, I needed the whole image to be sharp from front to back. With a focal length of 42 mm that is not possible in one shot, so I focus stacked two images, one with focus on the cotton-grass and one with focus on the background. I also normally don’t want an aperture smaller than f/14.
By now I started to feel the need for some breakfast. I went back to the car and started on my way home, intending to find somewhere to eat in the morning sun. Just past Bitihorn and Båtskaret, I found what I was looking for. A small peak in the open landscape, just a couple of hundred meters from the road, and with a parking space nearby, was bathing in sunlight. I took my breakfast and climbed to the top.
With Bitihorn behind me and the valley of Øystre Slidre spreading out in front of me, I enjoyed one of the best breakfasts I had had in a long time.
This summer I had a few days to my self at our cabin in Valdres, Norway. One day I decided to drive to Valdresflya, which is a mountain area just outside Jotunheimen National Park. I wanted to spend the night there, so I could get both the sunset and the following sunrise. I also wanted to sleep in my car. That was not very comfortable, but it made it easy to get up for sunrise.
So I drove north towards the sinking evening sun. My goal was to photograph a mountain called Bitihorn, which lies as a watch post at the entrance of Valdresflya, just where the road passes through Båtskaret (Boat Pass). Nearby is also the lake Bygdin, with a hotel by the shore, another potential photo location.
Just before the hotel, there was something holding up the traffic. It turned out to be a herd of cows on their way home for the evening, longing to get milked.
Cows passing Bygdin Hotel, with Bitihorn in the background.
Just after passing the cows, I noticed a low ridge to the right of the road. I thought it would provide good views of both Bygdin and Bitihorn, so I found a place to park the car, put on some extra clothes, grabbed my camera bag and went for a short hike up the ridge.
I noticed an area with some nice yellow flowers covering the ground. In the background, Bygdin was stretching out into the distant mountains. Some nice, puffy clouds were just starting to catch colour from the setting sun, even though it still was an hour until actual sunset. This scene called for a wide angle shot with lots of depth of field. I set up my camera with the Sigma 10-20 mm f/3.5 at 14 mm focal length and an aperture of f/11. This meant I needed an exposure time of 1/10 s for the foreground. I’m not too good at remembering which graduated filters I end up using, but I think I ended up with my 4-stop hard edge filter to darken down the sky.
Flowers in front of Bygdin. Canon 550D, Sigma 10-20 mm f/3.5 @14 mm, f/11, 1/10 s, ISO 100, 4-stop hard grad.
With this first «serious» photo of the trip done, it was time to prepare for the sunset photo of Bitihorn. I found a position with a good view to the south, and sheltered from the cool wind that was starting to pick up from the north. There were also several possible compositions, both wide and more close. I switched to my standard lens, the Canon EF-S 15-85 mm. While waiting for the light, I used the 10 second timer to take a selfie.
Selfie in front of Bitihorn. Canon 550D, Sigma 10-20 mm f/3.5 @20 mm, f/11, 1/10 s, ISO 100.
I knew that at the time of sunset, at around 10 pm, the sun would be blocked by the taller mountains of Jotunheimen, so my last chance of sunlight hitting Bitihorn would be some time before that. I wanted the last light hitting the top, and as much of the mountain as possible, so I watched closely, taking a photo whenever there was some sunlight. In the end, when the light finally hit the mountain top for a few minutes, there was no light anywhere else. I had another shot that I took a few minutes earlier, with sunlight hitting a small ridge at the foot of the mountain. In the final image I blended in a bit of this one to get the effect that I wanted. I used no filters on this one, but I bracketed with two stops on either side to get both the bright sky and clouds and the shadowed side of the mountain well exposed.
Last sunlight on Bitihorn. Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM @50 mm, f/11, bracketed composite.
It was such a beautiful night, and I was really enjoying the solitude and the quietness. There was a small river flowing by beneath me, providing the sound track. I could not hear cars passing on the road, only the occasional motorcycle. While I was sitting there and the light faded away I found myself thinking about life, the universe and everything, and as always, the answer was 42.
Jokes aside. From time to time a car passed on the road. There wasn’t much traffic, but a few minutes between each. And the way the road winded along the foot of Bitihorn gave me an idea for another photo. A long exposure with light trails. I put on a 2-stop grad to hold back what was left of light in the sky, and also a 6-stop ND to get long exposure times while it was still not very dark. Since the cars were so few and far between, I would need to follow one car the whole way, and that meant an exposure time of about two minutes. I also chose an aperture of f/8 for maximum sharpness. I don’t remember now if I used the 6-stop on the final image, but the graduated filter is there. I’m not quite sure it was necessary in the end, though.
The Diamond Necklace. Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 15-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM @65 mm, f/8, 121 s, ISO 100
I like this image very much, I think it is my favourite from this trip. The light trail reminds me of a diamond necklace, framing the peak of Bitihorn.
By now it was almost getting dark. There was just enough light to find my way back to the car. I drove a few kilometers further, then I found a parking lot and tried to get a few hours of rest before sunrise.
If you have been with me so far, then please stay tuned for Part 2, about the following morning’s sunrise shoot.
I have just had the most intense feeling of happiness that I have had in a very long time, maybe several years.
Cloudberries and mountain. 10 mm f/16, 1/50 s, ISO 100, Sigma 10-20 mm f/3.5,
Way up in the Norwegian mountains, the midday sun is high in the sky, white, puffy clouds drifting by. The air is still, with the occasional whiff of a light breeze. The dominant sounds are from the birds flying around me and between the trees. Insects are buzzing different tones from the high pitched mosquito to the more flapping sound of the dragonfly. From where I am sitting I can hardly see any sign of human presence, but I hear them in the distance. Happy children, caring parents. The sound of tools, somebody is working around their cabin. A car passing on the gravel road. But every now and then complete silence, only broken by nature’s own sounds.
The pond of happiness. 16 mm, f/11, 1/50 s, ISO 100, Canon EF-S 15-85 IS USM
In the middle of all this, I sit on a tussock of moss by the edge of a pond. After walking around for a while, taking some pictures, I sit down, camera bag beside me and the camera ready in my hands, to photograph whatever my eyes find. I feel completely at ease, free from problems and expectations. Whether the images are any good is not so important. It is this feeling of being a part of nature, being friends with the little spider on my knee and the ants that crawl under my shorts. Watching the dragonfly patrol the shoreline round after round, always the same route. I try to capture it with my camera, but it is always too quick, its movements too unpredictable. And the auto focus of my telephoto lens is too slow.
My best effort to capture a dragonfly. 225 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 s, ISO 500, Canon EF 70-300 IS USM
Some reeds form a heart-shaped reflection in the water. Makes me think of the ones I love, and the love that is no more. I am privileged, and I know I have made some right choices in the last year even though there were some tough decisions to make. And I am grateful for all the support I have received from everyone around me. So today, sitting here for hours on end just soaking in the wonderful feeling of being alive, I can’t wish for anything else.
Reeds and reflection. 200 mm, f/5, 1/800 s, ISO 100, Canon EF 70-300 IS USM
I have had a starling family as neighbours for a few days. We had a long weekend in our cabin, and just beside the cabin there is a large apartment complex. This consists of two old, half dead aspen trees. One of them has a lot of storeys with holes that have been occupied by generations of birds over many years. This time the top floor was inhabited by a starling family of four. At least I got to see four members of the family. The parents flew back and forth all day long with food for the hungry little ones. One of them often poked its head out to look for mum and dad. The other one was more reluctant, I only saw it when they got food. (mer…)
Just after sunset, late April. The lake is like a mirror, the air completely still. An old wooden boat is moored by the tiny beach. It is afloat but looking abandoned and disused. Nobody has bothered to empty it after the last rainfall. Patiently it waits for somebody to row it again.
Enebakk, Norway, 2015
This image is one of my favourites. It is by far my most popular image on ClickaSnap and the only one that has ever won me anything. It is taken not far from where I live, in Enebakk, Norway. Three bracketed RAW exposures developed in Darktable, merged in Macrofusion and the final image edited in Gimp.
I entered this image in a local photography contest centered around the beautiful landscapes of our municipality. It came in second place, which I was very happy about.Which one is your most popular image? Let me know in the comments.
H P Birkeland fotografi 