Photos from Northern Norway: A photo blog

This winter Norway had the pleasure of hosting the 2011 Nordic World Ski Championships (Ski VM). Since I live close to Oslo (where it was arranged) I went on a few trips to Oslo to check out the Championships. The main street in Oslo is called Karl Johan and along this street some artists had made ice sculptures inspired by the artwork of Edvard Munch. Edvard Munch is probably the most famous painter from Norway and most of you should be familiar with his painting called “The Scream”.

Below you can see some photographs of the ice sculptures:

I did not attend any of the sport events during the Ski VM, but it was fun to see some action in Oslo.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-PL1 digital camera
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6
Location: Oslo in Norway

After I started taking photos four years ago, I have become bit of camera equipment geek. I daily check news and reviews about new cameras, lenses and other camera equipment like tripods and camera bags. There is a myriad of brands out there so it can be hard to choose what camera brand you should invest in, but on the internet there are websites with product information that helps you find good prices and ratings on the cameras. These sites have vast libraries with product information that can make it easier to find your and similar products.

There are also more specialized websites like the highly proclaimed (and my personal favorite) dpreview.com that has in depth reviews of the best cameras and lenses. When it comes to selecting your camera I also recommend that you go by a camera store to check how it feels in your hands and then go back to the net to find the best prices.

Olympus PEN E-PL1

I own an older DSLR from Olympus called E-500, but after moving to the city I found it too big, especially after I started reviewing restaurants and doing street photographing. After much research I ended up with the smaller Olympus Pen E-PL1 (pictured to the left) that has smaller camera body and lenses, but keeps the big image sensor from DSLR cameras. This camera is perfect for photographing food when there are not much light around as it take pretty good pictures at higher ISO levels.

Taken with Olympus E-PL1 digital camera December 28th 2010. Click image for larger view.

This Christmas I visited the family in Northern Norway. There was a few moments where I got time for some photo shooting in the familiar surroundings in the north. Here I was walking at the coastline and I found these ice flakes to be pretty with the winter mountain (that often appears in my photos) in the background. I had to photograph the winter landscape to document another winter in the north!

The light that one can experience midwinter in Northern Norway is pretty awesome with its deep blue colors and signs of the sun coming back, but one got to remember thick clothes and gloves suited for photography.

Please see my other winter pictures here.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-PL1 digital camera
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 14 mm
ISO Speed 200
Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6
Location: Laupstad (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway

The beautiful family house in Northern Norway was built back in 1916 so it will soon be 100 years old (see picture below). Over the years there has been done a lot of work on the house, but from time to time you got to do some work like painting, work on the roof and walls. The property also comes with a run down barn and a boat house that has seen better days. If we are to keep the barn and boat house from falling down there needs to be done quite a bit of work. In addition, if we do not do anything with the buildings, the market value of the property will fall.

I have painted quite a few houses in my life and even done some carpentry work, but my skills are far from perfect when it comes to large construction- and renovation work. Some of my relatives and friends could probably help out, but if the stone roof on the boat house were to be replaced it might be a better idea to get some hired professionals. When it comes to hired workers there are many possibilities from local carpenters to cheaper Polish workers. There are even consultation services online that let you post the job you want to get done and get offers from professionals. The most important factor is to get quality workers and the price needs to be right.

Here is a picture of how our old house and barn looks like this winter. Let us hope they will be able to withstand some more winter storms coming in from the north and that we are able to keep property in good condition in the years to come.

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera December 22nd 2010. Click image for larger view.

I missed the lunar eclipse on the 21st, but the full moon on the 22nd of December was pretty nice with a red color and a few clouds to add effects. I photographed the moon just before it went behind some mountains on an island called Senja. The full moon seems to have a special red color at this time of the year. If you take a look at this picture, that I photographed 3 years ago at about the same time of the winter, you can see that the moon also back then had a reddish color.

Please have a look at my other pictures of the moon here.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4.0-5.6
Location: Laupstad (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway

Taken with iPhone 3GS camera December 8th 2010. Click image for larger view.

I have to take a ferry to get to work and that is not always fun when it is winter. It has been pretty cold here in Norway the last few weeks and it seems like the Oslofjord is about to freeze.

We get some sea smoke due to the sea being warmer than the cold air and this morning there was this thick, freezing fog at the pier while I was waiting for the ferry. Wind brought the fog ashore onto all the waiting passengers who tried their best to keep warm.

Winter is nice and all with beautiful landscapes and skiing, but I wish it was 10 degrees warmer!