Kvaløya

This photo was taken about 90 minutes after Sunset in northern Norway (69° latitude). I have never seen anything quite like this. As the world started to get darker in the fading light, the snow covered peaks took on a life of their own as they started to glow in the dark. Around me everything was turning pink and it seemed as if someone was putting a big pink spotlight on those mountains.

Explore #1 13/03/17

** Selected as one of the top 15 Flickr Landscape Photos in 2017, you can see the 2017 gallery here:

www.flickr.com/photos/flickr/galleries/72157667163347739/...

First shot from the recent trip to the absolutely amazing country of Norway, after missing the Aurora in Iceland I got talking to 2 girls from Tromso who said it is so good for the Northern Lights there... a week or so passed and we decided to get a trip going....

This was shot on the first morning, 20km South of Tromso, and the only morning where a sunrise shot would be possible due to poor weather and severe snow blizzards, it was 'only' -10 this morning, quite warm considering what was to come!

Only 2 out of 4 of us got up this morning to see what we could get, we had arrived the night before and it was all in darkness so we had no idea of our surroundings at all, arrving an hour before dawn gave me a little time to scout it out and come up with my favourite shot, which is this one, the pink hued light lasted for no more that 2 minutes maybe even less and thankfully I was already set up, never seen morning light like it, welcome to Norway.............

....As for the Aurora... well it didn't happen that night.

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It is so hot here today in Norway, that I find myself dreaming of nice cold Winter days. This was one of the Winter photos taken on my Tromsø trip earlier this year.

Norway

This is an oldie, I don't travel to northern Norway as often as I used to. I love the wonderful clear skies that you get closer to the Arctic. Hammerfest consideres itself the world's northernmost town, with about 10000 inh, lying at 70° latitude. Hammerfest is experiencing an economic boom as a result of an LNG production facility built there in recent years.

(#6 on explore 4/9/16)

Aurora oval displays above a bridge near Tromsø

A beautiful sunny day in the Tromsø area ended with a warm Sunset at Ersfjordbotn.

A clear winter day driving over the island of Kvaløya near Tromsø. There should have been more snow in February, but the clear day still gives it a cold look. I couldn't resist this view with the bright yellow boat and box in the foreground.

[#65 on explore 14/2/17]

A cold, clear Winter morning in Northern Norway, just before the sun pops over the horizon.

The photo was taken at midday, but in northern Norway in January that still means golden hour and a lot of pink light.

The morning after the night before....

A few miles South of Tromso in the Arctic Circle, Norway, on a farm where I was staying for a few days. The night before had been an incredible Northern Lights display, still the best I've ever seen, but after a late night, no rest for the wicked and up for sunrise back into the deep snow again.

This scene was just at the rear of the farm, the light around these parts seems to be very different with loads of pinks and purples often visible in the early and late hours, this mornings sunrise, although nothing special was still enough to give this gorgeous lighting onto the mountains to the rear here, and pick out all the detail in the snow laden trees, with the little red hut seemingly perfectly placed to finish the scene off.

Despite being the coldest place I've ever been to, still to this day Norway is by far my favourite place I've ever been, and somewhere I really want to explore a lot more when we are able to again.

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This was taken just as the sun was setting at 1:30 p.m. It is amazing how the few daylight hours in January all seem to be golden, and giving such warm colours to the cold landscape. I think this will probably be my last Winter upload for the season, as things around here in the Netherlands are becoming quite Spring-like.

Norway

Explore #5 - 25/03/17

The second day in Tromsø, Northern Norway, saw us heading out towards the coast and the remote Islands around Hillesøy.

The weather had taken a real turn for the worst with extremely heavy snowfall overnight, it was about -16 degrees this morning and again the snow falling heavily right from the off, it was hard to see where getting any images would be possible at all.

As we drove further South there were a few of these small dwellings dotted about and but nothing that would make a decent composition and even more so due to the snow creating a white out environment for the most part. Further along we drove past this tiny house, as we passed it was bugging me as being a potential image, so we stopped and I decided to walk back and have a go at getting something here.

There was absolutely no way to get any nearer to this house due to the depth of the snow so I opted for a longer focal length and the lens hood on to try and keep the snow off the lens, after a few attempts I settled on this composition with the mountains directly behind and centered the house as to leave no doubt as to what the subject was against the background, if you look at the image you can see the snow is still falling hard here, but the low cloud had lifted just enough to reveal the mountains on the other side of the sea. Looking back I'm so glad I made the decision to go back for this, as for many reasons this is one of my favourite images from the trip, it sums up the area for me, desolate, and unforgiving.

I don't know who lives in this little house but I hope they have a big shovel, and damn good heating!

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