Photos from Northern Norway: A photo blog » Sea Ocean

Photo of old wooden fishing boat on the sea by Harstad in Northern Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:53:21 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera July 31st 2010. Click image for larger view.
I was just on a short visit in Northern Norway this summer. I did not have much time for photography, but found some minutes while waiting on a ferry to get home to the place where I grew up. While waiting this old wooden fishing boat passed out on the fjord so I had to take a picture of the boat with a lovely mountain in the background.

I love these old fishing boats as they tell a story how the fisheries used to be in Norway. Due to modern fishery politics many of these wooden boats have been demolished because the government wanted a more effective fishing fleet with fewer and bigger boats, but there are a few left and even some that still are partaking in the coastal fisheries. Even the boats that were owned by my family were sunken in the 50ies, which I find really sad. Hopefully we will have more sensible fisheries in the future so we will not destroy the fish stocks and the rest of the environment in our oceans.

Please take a look at my other pictures of boats here.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 150 mm
ISO Speed 200
Lens: Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX APO DG HSM Macro
Location: Harstad, Troms in Northern Norway

Picture from the Oslofjord, Norway covered with broken ice

Thomas Laupstad — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:42:14 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera February 23rd 2009. Click image for larger view.
The Oslofjord in Norway was covered with ice this winter due to some very cold periods, and since I travel by ferry over the fjord almost every day I was able to get some pictures of the broken ice.
The ice wasn’t that thick so the ferries were able to travel, but smaller boats had to stay in the harbors.

And here is a picture where you can get a closer view of the ice covering the Oslofjord. Ice and snow can be beautiful!

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera February 23rd 2009. Click image for larger view.

From now on there will be more summer photos on this blog
Check out other winter pictures here.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 22 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 11-22mm F2.8-3.5
Location: Oslofjord in southeast of Norway

Picture of lighthouse on a snow covered headland in Oslofjorden, Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:08:09 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera February 8th 2009. Click image for larger view.
Here I have photographed a lighthouse on a snow covered headland. This lighthouse is placed in Oslofjorden in southeastern part of Norway and help with keeping the ship traffic in the fjord safe.
I liked the lonely location of the lighthouse and the other buildings on the headland. Doesn’t it look like a great place to live?
The photo was taken with at 300mm (about 600mm in 35mm terms) with a telephoto lens so it was pretty far away from my location.

Check out my other picture of a wave crashing over a small headland in Northern Norway.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4.0-5.6
Location: Fjellstrand in Nesodden, Akershus in southeast of Norway

Midnight sunset picture of distant village in the sea in Northern Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:20:35 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera June 29th 2008. Click image for larger view.
In this picture I have captured what was a fantastic midnight sunset here in Northern Norway. The sunset created some incredible light where this village in the sea was bathed in a beam of sunshine. The picture should be looked at in large size to get a better view of the sunset.
The midnight sun is already gone (I can’t believe how fast this summer has passed), but the nights are still very light if the rain clouds could stay away.

The distant village is called Laupstad and is the place where I grew up (hence my last name Laupstad). The mountains in the background is a part of the second largest island in Norway, Senja.

I have photographed the same village from above in this picture and in this picture you can see the village with a some pink sunset-clouds as background at 01:30 AM.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 89 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4.0-5.6
Location: From Ånstad viewing Laupstad (Andørja) with Senja in the background, Troms in Northern Norway

Harstad – the pearl of Vågsfjorden

Thomas Laupstad — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:08:18 +0000

Harstad is the fourth largest city here in Northern Norway and has a population of about 23,000. It is located on an island called Hinnøya and this island is the largest in Norway with it’s 2,204.7 km². Harstad is often called “the pearl of Vågsfjorden” as the city lays by a beautiful fjord called Vågsfjorden. The scenery in Vågsfjorden is great for photographing with midnight sun during the summer and northern lights (aurora borealis) during the dark winter months. The combination of steep mountains and narrow fjords produce some of the most stunning scenery that I have ever seen. This scenery is simply perfect for a nature photographer like me.

There are several other attractions beside the nature that one can check out in Harstad. One example are some huge guns called “The Adolf Guns” that was built during World War II by the occupying Germans. The Adolf Guns consists of the largest naval guns placed ashore in Europe during WWII and the whole gun battery is claimed to be Atlantic Wall’s largest and most powerful.
One should also check out the beautiful Trondens Church. This old church was built around 1434 and is the northernmost Medieval stone church in Norway.

For more information about Harstad you can visit the Wikipedia entry about the town and the official travel website for Harstad. If you want to travel to Harstad and are looking for a good hotel you can check out this website where most of the hotels in Harstad are listed.

When I grew up Harstad was the closest city to where I used to live and we used to simply call it “The city” as it was the only city we ever visited. Here is a picture taken from the harbor in Harstad with a view over Vågsfjorden and with the island I live on (Andørja) in the background. The boat pictured is an old fishing boat called “sjark” that are still commonly used in the fisheries here in Northern Norway.

Sunset scene during the spring in Northern Norway – Picture taken from bedroom window

Thomas Laupstad — Mon, 26 May 2008 08:59:17 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera May 16th 2008. Click image for larger view.
In this picture I have photographed a sunset late in the evening (at 11 PM) from my bedroom window. I love this view and I never get tired of looking at it
Notice all the snow in the mountains that you can see in the horizon (if you click on the picture to view it large it easier to see the snow). We are still a bit away from summer here in Northern Norway and spring has been pretty cold so far. It will hopefully get warmer here soon so a cold Norwegian can get a tan

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 22 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 11-22mm F2.8-3.5
Location: Ånstad (Andørja), Troms in northern Norway

Pictures of Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) on the coast in Northern Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:16:14 +0000

Here are a couple of pictures of Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) that I captured last weekend while collecting seagull eggs on some skerries on the coast in Northern Norway (a post about the egg collecting is coming in a few days so stay tuned).
Herring gulls live here in large numbers and the sounds of the gulls are to me very typical for summers in Northern Norway.

I love the curious expression of the herring gull in the first picture.

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera May 11th 2008. Click image for larger view.

In the next picture the gulls got a bit too nervous by me coming so close and are taking flight to escape the evil human

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera May 11th 2008. Click image for larger view.
Check out my other seagull pictures here. I love these birds!

Information about the pictures:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4.0-5.6
Location: West coast on Senja, Troms in Northern Norway

Zoomed in picture of the sun setting in the ocean in Northern Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:06:37 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera April 29th 2008. Click image for larger view.
At this time of the year we get to see some amazing sunsets here in Northern Norway. During the spring, before we get midnight sun, the sun is setting in the ocean in the horizon.
In this picture I have zoomed in on the sun when it was about to set in the ocean. There was some mist in the horizon and it made the sun look particularly spectacular with different shades of red.
We’ve had sunsets like this for a week now and the weather have been great with record warmth.
Spring is a nice time to be living in Northern Norway

Check out this photo from last year of the sun disappearing in the ocean.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4.0-5.6
Location: Ånstad (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway

Picture of water dropping from icicles – Sunny day in Northern Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:19:52 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera March 20th 2008. Click image for larger view.

Here I have photographed water drops falling from some icicles that were melting on a sunny day here in Northern Norway. In the picture I used the fjord and snow clad mountains as a background to the icicle. I also used a low f-stop to get the background out of focus as I wanted the icicle and water drops to “pop out” in the photo.

Check out my other macro photo of a falling water drop.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm F3.5 Macro
Location: Laupstad (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway

Picture of Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritim) bird at the coast in Northern Norway

Thomas Laupstad — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:24:46 +0000

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera March 17th 2008. Click image for larger view.
The Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritim or Erolia maritima) is a small shorebird (about 22cm) that live on the coast here in Northern Norway. While many birds migrate to warmer climate during the winter this bird stay here throughout the winter.
The Purple Sandpiper eat mainly eat insects and mollusks, but when I came across this bird it was feeding on some algae on the rocks. The plumage is a great camouflage among all the seaweed and dark rocks. Often I’m not able to spot these birds before they get frightened and take flight.

This species is very tame so I was able to get very close with my rowboat to get a picture of the Purple Sandpiper. I still wish I had a lens with better zoom to get an even closer look.

Take a look at my picture of a Long-tailed Duck that I photographed last winter.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 40-150mm F3.5-4.5
Location: Laupstad (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway