Behind the Shot

Girkoaivi – October 2018

I remember this day so clearly. Again, a huge part of what I love about photography and even WHY I photograph, is that it ables me to freeze a moment in time and within that moment is not only the photograph, but also everything else tied up in that moment. The scents, how I felt, what I felt and even my thoughts in that moment. Its like the shutter button also works as a “save-as-button” for everything outside the actual photo.

So when I look at this photo my heart immediately beats faster. I remember being so thrilled and excited about reaching the top of the summit, since this is taken from the summit of the higher neighbouring peak. And a spectacular one might I add. I also had lots of feelings inside me that was bubbling and living its own life, so it was a very pumped and excited version of me that ended up taking this photo.

The photo itself was one of those moments of awe, where you are looking at a scene and suddenly something just opens up and reveals itself. For a brief moment the clouds lifted perfectly around the mountain Girkoaivi. This photo is all about timing. The lake in front of the peak is about to freeze and the fresh snow wasn’t here the day before. So to have the pure white landscape and that blue lake showcased like this, that only happens for a day or two every year. A minute after I took this the scene was gone and I couldn’t see the lake or the mountain.

Its one of those photographs that I cant ever replicate. Just like I cant replicate what I sensed and felt in that very moment. The true essence of photography to me.

Girkoaivi is part of the HEIME book. It can be ordered directly from here.

Here is a shot of me right beneath where I took this.

The Dolomites on the border between Italy and Austria are incredible, especially when fall colour explodes and atmosphere reaches its peak. I love this place and I have been returning every year since 2016. Each visit is different, the conditions are never the same and each time I discover new gems. But one thing that never fails is finding random compositions along the way. This is one such random find. Close to the Tre Cime area we stopped the van when we saw low clouds and mist floating around the trees on the mountain slopes. Incredible colours of red and orange on the larch trees! Perfect for a longer lens, so I ended up using a 55-200mm (300m equiv) . I took lots of shots as the mist moved around between the trees, but i really liked this one. It just seemed a bit “orderly” despite the chaos created by all those trees. Its all about the atmosphere in this one!

Fuji XT-10 – 55-200mm @f6.4 – 1/35s – iso 200

I’m not a drone photographer. Whenever I try to fly a drone i turn into a kamikaze pilot and everyone around me runs frantically around trying to find a safe place. I can’t think of many drone shots I’ve taken that I really like. Not more than a handful really.

This one is a bit intriguing. When i look at this image it almost looks like a frozen puddle, not more than maybe a meter from edge to edge. I had forgotten i even took this image so when I saw it in my folders, years later, I immediately thought it was something I had shot on the ground. To my surprise it was taken with a drone and the dimensions where insane compared to what I imagined.

One of the frames I took had a bit of land in it. And to my surprise it showed our van parked in the frame. These ice patterns are HUGE!

See that tine van down in the corner? That gives an idea of the dimensions. I was blown away, both by the scale and the fact that i had overlooked this image for years.

Some mountains have become close friends of mine. These are peaks that i have photographed numerous times over the years, climbed in every season and portrayed from almost every possible angle. Riebecohka, which means Fox Peak, is one of those peaks.

This particular morning, in early November, mist was floating through the area. I was with the best people and we were all mesmerized by the beauty. I wish i could say i had to put in some serious effort to get this shot, but no, its taken from the side of the road. It was a wonderful morning and looking at this shot takes me right back there. The scenery, the fresh air and everything else.

Over the past year i have been moving in direction where i work with less colour. When i work in color its always with quite muted tones and never with strong bold colors. Im certainly moving towards a monochrome expression lately and ive been enjoying working in mono over the last months. Curious to see where this leads me over the coming year. Time will tell.

Shot this on the Fuji GFX 50S with a 250mm. Again, its a simple composition with the tree line contrasting against the mid ridge and the mountain in the back, creating a triangle of lines and shapes and negative space above and below. The key word for a lot of my compositions is balance, and this one fits that quite well.

Finland is amazing. Its amazing during summer and fall, but its in winter that it goes beyond amazing and just turns into somekind of fairytale frozen planet. It really is incredible. And if you like trees, Finland has just what you need. There are trees everywhere. Endless forests stretching endlessly beyond the horizon. Do i like trees? No, i dont like trees. I adore trees! If i was forced to choose between shooting trees or mountains for all eternity, and i had to choose just one of them, i would choose trees. Thats how much i love photographing trees.
The trees in this particular shot is not typical for the area we visit in Lapland. There is mostly the incredible conifer trees as well as birches that are dominant. But on our way up to Riisitunturin National Park we passed a small patch of these almost dead spruce trees. They looked so naked and cold, yet so strikingly beautiful. And the shape of the ground made the whole scene a bit sensual in a weird way. Its hard to explain what attracts me in certain scenes, and in this case i think very few would find this attracting, but i absolutely love the stark zombie like beauty present in this scene. No colour at all. A very monochromatic scene, stripped to its core. I couldnt take my eyes away. I framed it so that the curve shape of the ground became prominent and gave some kind of harmony to the composition.

There is not much that triggers me more than a proper blizzard. And this one was furious! We were on our Secrets of Arctic tour and found ourselves down on the rocks at Tungeneset at Senja. Most of our group was seeking refuge in the van while i decided to have a go at the raging waves. I wanted to capture something that would give a sense of the raging feeling i felt while standing there. As often is the case while shooting seascapes, the chosen shutterspeed will make all the difference. I tried out all kinds of shutterspeeds, but i ended up using a 0,6 sec exposure. This gave a sense of motion, yet not too blurred to pass on a feeling of that angry ocean.

Compositionally its all about repeating diagonal lines and an anchoring triangle in the bottom. I felt it was a composition that really worked quite well. My camera did not like this at all. Constant splashes of salty spray kept hitting my gear, its a recipe for disaster, but miraculously everything survived.

Post-processing was minimal. Just whitebalance adjustment and curves.

Fuji GFX 50r – GF 32-64mm @ 41mm, f7,1 – iso 250 – 0,6s

You can buy a fine art print of this here. Only 4 editions left.

I usually don’t feel I have much to say in a photographic world dominated by Youtube and Instagram and an endless flow of information and inspiration. But I thought I might do something just to keep my mind occupied in these crazy pandemic times. So I will do a series of posts where I go behind a specific shot and share the backstory. Maybe some technical info or whatever might be interesting.

The first shot is one called No Mans Land from my Alpine World gallery. It’s a shot I took on a hiking tour in Lofoten back in 2018. The hike took place in early June which is normally a great time for hiking in Lofoten, but this year the weather gods decided to have some fun on our behalf. We had crazy blizzards and insane winds on our first campsite, deep in between the mountains just north of Reine. This particular area is hardly ever visited by anyone. And its totally understandable given its tricky access. We were camped out under a few of the many jagged peaks that surrounds lake Solbjørnvatnet and decided to go for an evening hike even further into no mans land. This gave us a few angles on the peaks that I hadn’t seen before, or after for that matter. The grim and moody weather was perfect for capturing the sense of drama that this area presents to anyone who dares to visit. I framed this so that the small pond would balance the mighty peaks that are a little left sided in this scene. A slight burst of light came through just at the right moment and the way the peak on the right is diffused gave me the depth i wanted.

I shot this handheld on my Fuji XT-2 and the 10-24mm at 11,5mm. Nothing worth noting technically, a straightforward exposure with minimal post-processing. Basically just balancing the light. I went for a rather cold toning to further accentuate the sense of a harsh and rugged environment.

Later that night the wind violently attacked our camp and the next day we stayed in a cabin instead. Awesome memories!