Norway Norwegen Norge

Pictures from northern Norway

Harstad – the pearl of VÃ¥gsfjorden

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 VÃ¥gsfjorden” as the city lays by a beautiful fjord called VÃ¥gsfjorden. The scenery in VÃ¥gsfjorden 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 VÃ¥gsfjorden 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.
Old fishing boat on a calm sea

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Picture of field full of dandelion flowers and a red boatshed in Northern Norway

Picture of field full of dandelion flowers and a red boatshed in Northern Norway
Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera June 8th 2008. Click image for larger view.
I love the short period when every dandelion plant seems to flower at the exact same time. A field full of yellow flowers on a sunny day is a beautiful sight so I could not resist taking out the camera to snap some pictures. Since I’m a big fan of photographing boatsheds I had to make a composition with a shed in the picture.
As you can see there is still some snow in the mountains here in Northern Norway, but the green color is creeping pretty fast upward to the top of the mountains. Maybe it is time to go for a photo-hike up those mountainsides?

Check out a few shots of grass fields from last summer:
Taking pictures while laying in a buttercup meadow
Photo of old fence keeping out hordes of yellow flowers

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

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Picture of wood anemone (nemorosa) flower with purple primula flowers as background

Picture of wood anemone (nemorosa flower) with purple primula flowers as background
Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera May 31st 2008. Click image for larger view.
In this picture I have photographed a wood anemone flower (anemone nemorosa) with some purple primula flowers as background. I loved the contrast with the sun shining on the white wood anemone flower and the the primula flowers in the shadow. These beautiful small flowers are also known as windflower, European thimbleweed and smell fox.

The wood anemone flowers is a sure sign that the spring is here and that summer is right around the corner.
Flowers are popping up everywhere now so expect more pictures of flowers from Northern Norway in the near future. You can also check out my previous pictures of flowers here.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/7.1
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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Sunset scene during the spring in Northern Norway – Picture taken from bedroom window

Sunset scene during the spring in Northern Norway
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

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

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.
Picture of herring gull (Larus argentatus)
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 😉
Picture of herring gull (Larus argentatus) taking flight
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

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