During our week on the Lofoten Islands, we of course had to visit the small fishing village of Hamnøy with its famous view from the bridge. Like probably everyone who travels this far south, we stayed in one of the red cabins and were really happy that we could reach our photo location in 5 minutes on foot instead of having to hike 2-3 hours up a mountain for the sunrise. When we got there in the late afternoon, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few first test shots before we checked in and was surprised that there were no cars in the small parking lot in front of the bridge and not a single person on the bridge. So we got out of the car, put on our wide-angle lenses and mounted our cameras on the tripods before walking to the bridge. But what was a small breeze in the parking lot turned into gale force winds with tiny hailstones that felt like several needles stabbing your face. I really struggled to stand upright and hold my tripod, whose legs I didn't even try to unfold. However, since the legs were already extended, I pushed the tripod against the rather high railing, set the shutter speed to 1s and pressed the shutter button several times, hoping that one of these pictures would be sharp. However, because I couldn't see the composition on the back screen due to all the little hailstones hitting me in the face, the only sharp image I was able to capture had too little foreground and way too much sky in the frame, but I at least figured out the optimal position on the bridge, which we returned to the next day.
The next morning we got up before sunrise to be at the bridge at the blue hour and were very surprised that only 4 or 5 other people had set up their cameras. However, as it turned out, this was not due to the sub-optimal weather, but rather the time of day, although it was winter, which meant that sunrise was very late, around 9am. The crowds actually came after sunrise, which I will never understand, as the blue hour and sunrise offer the best light. And let me tell you, I've never seen so many people photographing the same composition, not even at any of the famous viewpoints I've been to. Plus, you have to stand on the sidewalk of a single-lane bridge that is regularly crossed by snowplows and trucks that have a really hard time not crashing into people walking on the road without paying attention to the traffic. Well, and as if that wasn't enough, some of the people who were really late wanted the best position and squeezed right up next to me without asking and without apologizing for bumping into my tripod. Well, but what did I expect from an Instagram hotspot?
Anyhow, I took many pictures with shorter and longer exposures and was very happy on location, but back home on the computer I found that they either lack mood and atmosphere or have a too chaotic foreground as the wind was still quite strong. However, I’m really happy with one image that combines it all: Some beautiful mist in the background that partially obscures the characteristic mountain in the background and some waves in the foreground that were smoothed out a bit by the 2s exposure, but still have texture and thus convey the harsh weather conditions above the Arctic Circle. I hope you like it too!
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