Thomas Laupstad

Hi there :) My name is Thomas Laupstad and I recently picked up photography as my favorite activity. I want to show you northern Norway from my point of view. Hope you enjoy the blog!

Macro picture of yellow snail shells – Land snails eaten by mice

11 Comments / Macro, Nature, Norway Norwegen Norge, Shells, Snail /

Macro picture of yellow snail shells
Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera April 2nd 2008. Click image for larger view.
In this picture you can see four yellow snail shells from some kind of land snail species. During the winter the markings on the shells has almost vanished so it is hard to say what species they are, but I’m guessing these are shells of white-lipped snails (Cepaea hortensis) as they are native pretty far north.
You may notice that a couple of the shells are broken. The broken shells combined with a lot of mice droppings around them make me suspect that mice have had a gastronomical meal.
Feel free to leave comment if you know what kind of snail species this is.

Check out this macro photo of a sea snail with seaweed as background.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm F3.5 Macro
Location: Sørvik (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway

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Picture of small Scots pine tree (Pinus sylvestris) in a winter landscape in Northern Norway

15 Comments / Clouds, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Norway Norwegen Norge, Scenery, Sky, Snow, Tree, Winter /

Picture of small scots pine tree in a winter landscape in Northern Norway
Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera April 2nd 2008. Click image for larger view.
After a period of not taking any pictures I got some inspiration today and went out on a photo trip.
I found an area where some Scots pine trees (Pinus sylvestris) were growing wild. I really liked the form on this little tree and the snowy scenery made a good background for a picture. The mountain peak is many kilometers away, but I used a zoom lens to make it look closer.
Scots pine is the only pine tree species growing wild here in Norway. It can reach 40 meters and there has been found trees that are over 800 years old.

Check out this picture of a lonely birch tree standing in a marsh filled with mist. It’s one of my personal faves 🙂

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 40 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 40-150mm F3.5-4.5
Location: Sørvik (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway

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Photo of old Norwegian summer barn against mountain

7 Comments / Barn, Countryside, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Norway Norwegen Norge, Scenery, Sky, Snow, Winter /

Photo of old Norwegian summer barn against mountain
Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera March 14th 2008. Click image for larger view.
In this picture you can see a traditional, old Norwegian summer barn with some mountains as background. In older times these barns were used to house livestock during the summer season. The summer barns were often located a bit away from the farm land and closer to the forests and mountains where the livestock grazed.
Notice the common juniper and small birch trees growing on the summer barn’s grass roof. It must be decades since it was last in use.
The sun was about to set and so that explains the red color on the snow.

If you want to take a look at other decaying buildings check out this and this picture.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 11-22mm F2.8-3.5
Location: Å (Andørja), Troms in northern Norway

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

30 Comments / Coast, Ice, Icicles, Macro, Nature, Norway Norwegen Norge, Sea Ocean, Shore, Sky, Snow, Winter /

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

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

6 Comments / Birds, Coast, Nature, Norway Norwegen Norge, Purple Sandpiper, Sea Ocean, Seaweed, Shore /


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

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