Suffolk Owl Sanctuary

Called in at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary on the way back from lecturing in Ipswich last night. Very much the off-season but enjoyed those birds that were exercised and also the Meerkats. I had seen some paintings done of Owls etc with textured backgrounds so had a play with four of today's images.

Å, Lofoten Islands, Norway

This image is from the very tip of the Lofoten islands, a place called Å, being the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet. The image is a vertical panorama, photomerged in Photoshop. It comprises four images using the shift lens in raised and lower position and with two images for the central position focusing on the foreground and background, respectively. The images have not quite aligned in Photoshop - I will need to redo at some stage more carefully or use a better merge software - any suggestions.

Oslo

 We spent the final night of our trip in the Comfort Hotel Express Central Station in a balcony room on the top floor (an excellent budget hotel). This was the view in the morning - clear skies so we decided on a trip to Vigeland Sculpture Park as we had heard so much about it. The unique sculpture park is the life work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron.  Certainly an amazing location though I found some of the statues (especially those on the bridge) quite disturbing.  I have chosen some from the granite Monolith platform and from the bronze Wheel of Life.

Last Photos from the Lofoten Islands

I had been wanting to visit the race course in Leknes ever since I spied it on our first day in Lofoten. The leaders declared the grey weather no good for photography and it might snow so most stayed in the hotel but Jane and I found our way to the race course and were rewarded with some trotting on ice. The horses have ice spikes on their hooves and travelled very fast.

Monday it snowed hard and so our afternoon flight was delayed three hours while the snow ploughs got to work.

Another Frozen Fjord, Lofoten Islands

On our way back to the hotel we stopped to photograph this beautiful frozen fjord and all the different ice patterns. 

A Frozen Fjord, Lofoten Islands

No colourful sunrise on Sunday morning but I enjoyed capturing the subtle pinks of this frozen fjord location. Unfortunately we didn't have very long there to fully explore its potential.

Northern lights over Haukland Beach Lofoten Islands

Around midnight we moved to the adjacent beach and watched as the Lights danced above the mountains - very difficult to record, especially as my focus point was on the midground rather than the sky.

Northern Lights over Utakleiv Beach, Lofoten Islands

Saturday was completed with a fabulous display of Northern Lights. We photographed these first from Utakleiv Beach and then moved to Haukland for a second shoot (images to follow). There was a near full moon lighting the mountains and reflecting off the crest of the waves.

Nusfjord Fishing Village Lofoten Islands

The day remained clear with golden winter light for a visit to Nusfjord, a heritage site retaining all the features of a Lofoten fishing village. As well as drying the cod in traditional racks, there is also a cod-liver oil refinery. The sunset proved to be not as good as we hoped but I loved the colours in the fjord with the ochre rocks and red algae echoing the colours of the Rorbu cabins