Serenity, Lofoten, Norway – February 2012

What makes landscape photography so fascinating is that you never really know what to expect. You never know what will be thrown at you in terms of weather. I find that the most exciting times to photograph is when weather is shifting rapidly, but it makes for a challenging endeavor as well. Landscape photography can be slow and methodical or, when things are changing fast around, a bit of a sweaty guessing game to try to be “at the right place at the right time”.

It was just that kind of game that I played this winter evening in Lofoten. An intense snow front  was coming in from the west and passed, luckily, just south of me. It went from light to very dark in a minute or so. I made a few exposures during this time but they came out to dull. However, as the front moved further to the east light returned and I managed to make this image before the clouds moved away and the magic was gone.

Golden coast, Skåne, Sweden – April 2013

Things has been hectical here lately with workshops and other work but I have finally found time to post a new Image of the Month. As we say here in Sweden, better late than never.

This is an image that I was literally walking away from. I thought the opportunities for photography was over this morning, but when the sun went behind the cloud bank the light became much softer again and everything was illuminated by this beautiful warm light. I hurried back to the rocks you see in the image and started making exposures again. When I work with water I rarely make a lot of different compositions of the same subject. Instead I shoot a lot of variations with different sea movement as it is, in my opinion, essential to a good coastal image. How the waves move during the exposure have a lot of impact on the final composition.

Glimpse of light, Sarek National Park – August 2012

As spring arrives it brings back wonderful memories from past hikes in the mountains. The fresh air, cold wind and warm sun of spring is very much like July or August in the high mountains.

I made this image on the high plateau of Louttolahko during an hike in August last year. Louttolahko is a stone desert with a few lakes that brings some variation to a completely barren landscape. It’s located in Sarek National Park and is one of the most lonely places that I have ever been to. On this trip I was camping here for four days without seeing a soul.

The best conditions on my stay here were, of course, on the first evening. I was tired after an exhausting ascent from the valley below. It’s interesting how you photograph differently when you are physically exhausted. I find that I react more instinctively and that my vision somehow becomes clearer.

I was at my tent at the edge of the lake when the light started to break through the clouds. I grabbed the camera and mounted it on the tripod and made a few exposures. Each one came out differently as the clouds were moving fast. This is the one I like the most. To me it tells a fragment of the story of this mystical place.