I wrote my last post more than two months ago, so it should be time for an update. What happend the last months? First I have to say that I’m still writing my master thesis and this will take a couple of weeks and brings along a less updated blog. But it’s not only hard work, it’s also fun. Fun – because I stayed nearly two month (May-July) on the Lofoten Islands for my studies and of course, I was able to combine studying with hiking and some photography. During my stay on the beautiful and small island of Værøy, I had the chance to catch the wonderful light of the midnight sun and some birds near the abandoned village of Mostad. Some f these pictures will be uploaded on flickr from time to time. Another great news for my wife and me is that we will move to Stokmarknes, Norway next month. Stokmarknes is a very small town (ca. 3000 inhabitants) on Hadseløya, which is part of the Vesterålen. Two days ago we got our apartment in Stokmarknes and most of the stuff we have to take with us is packed and we are almost ready for the relocation. So I expect, the next post will be written in our new Norwegian home. Hopefully, it won’t take another two months because that’s definitely to long. I think I will post some impressions from our relocation, the “start” in Stokmarknes and of course some new stories on photography – from my stay in Lofoten during the summer and some “up to date” stories from Hadseløya and the surrounding area. Stay tuned!
With this post I want to start a new series which will be from now on occasionaly published on my blog. The series is called “The story behind” and I will tell you the stories behind the photos you find in my gallery. As you can read it on my profile page my photos are not a part of reality. What I try, is to catch the scenery in combination with all my different kinds of perception in one image. This series should describe the background of the image.
It is a sunny day and we walk through the mountains south of Innset, a small village in North Norway. It is August and the intensively green of birch trees fills the valleys. The forest floor is covered with blueberries, mushrooms and cloudberries. It is a pleasure walking through this environment full of life. But we want to go higher. We leave the forest and take our way along the river Dittielva. We reach the tree line already at 500 meters above sea level and dwarf birches and dwarf willows take the forest’s place. The open landscape offers a view of the surrounding area with the valley Østerdal, the mountain Grønfjell and the gorgeous lake Altevatn or Aldesjavri how the Saami call it. The river Dittielva gets narrower and we cross several moraines, relicts from the last ice age. The vegetation slowly disappears and dwarf vegetation is followed by alpine meadows, these are followed by lichens which are followed by patchy vegetation which only grows in sheltered zones between the rocks. In this area snow and ice predominate most time of the year and it is impressive what beauty the small flowers in this have to offer. After reaching the glacial lake Dittivatn and a refreshing bath we climb up a steep slope to reach a nameless but beautiful glacial lake on the other side of the mountain ridge. The sun is going down and small pieces from the glacier are floating in the lake while we reach its shore. After a long day hiking in the mountains nothing is better than a cozy place to rest. We decide to camp at this breathtaking spot surrounded by high mountains with small glaciers. From time to time the glacier catches our eyes by crash and thunder of breaking ice. It is impressive to watch even a small calving glacier. These sounds, the rocky environment together with the cold air coming from the lake don’t give you the feeling of warmth, comfort and security you need at the end of a day. But the tent gives us this feeling and we enjoy the coziness inside the tent which is enlightened by a candle lantern in our warm sleeping bags.
With this photo I tried to catch these two opposite environments of cold and warm, uncomfortable and cozy. The cold light of the blue hour and the ice in the background enhance the uncomfortable atmosphere while the warm colors of the red and yellow tent give you the feeling of security where you can find refuge. That’s all you need after a wonderful day out in the nature.
The first post on my new blog will be about a camera which surprised me. I never expected that it can make so much fun to take photos with a mobile phone. Normally I use a Nikon D700 with lenses from 20 mm to 400 mm – heavy and not cheap and not comparable with a smartphone. The first pictures I shot with my HTC Legend phone (Android OS) corroborated my misgivings – photos from a mobile phone look boring because of bad exposure and colors. Taking photos with it? Never! Later I stumbled across an app called Vignette, which changed my negative stance. Vignette is a camera application with 46 built-in camera and film effects plus several frame options which turn your phone camera into a stylish analog camera. Shoot your photos on Fuji Velvia to Ilford B&W films, use cameras like the SX-70 or lens effects like tilt-shift or color filters. To use this camera app is really a joy. Vignette helped me to turn my phone into a Polaroid instant camera with “old-school” colors and/or strong vignetting – wonderful. In my opinion it’s a must have for all photographers with an Android smartphone. The app is available in the Android Market for £2.99 and definitly worth its money. And if you are one of the rare iPhone users, you could try Hipstamatic. I have no experiences with this iPhone app but it seems to be similarly.
You want to see some pictures took with Vignette? Check out my new mobile flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roenemobile).
Today I’m pleased to announce that my new website is ready to enter the web. I did not count the years and month when my last complete website was online. When I look back to the date when I decided to rebuild this site, facebook and flickr were still in its infancy and twitter wasn’t even there. I had a lot of ideas how the site should look like and what content has to be in. Many designs and ideas were discarded. What you see right now is what I like most on websites – simplicity! In times of social media it is not necessary to have everything on your website. In my opinion it is more like a business card and the base for all the social and interactive media sites like facebook, twitter, flickr, vimeo etc.
For me as a photographer this website has two functions. First it should show an overview of my photographic work. Actually you find only one gallery of different subject areas. This will be changed in the future and will be more categorized. I tried to keep the design of my portfolio as simple as possible to lay the focus on the image itself.
Secondly there is a blog (right, you are reading it). Here you will find articles in the field of photography and to related subjects of my kind of photography, like outdoor activities (hiking, backpacking, skiing, mushing, canoeing) and travelling.
I hope you like the relaunch and will come back from time to time or subscribe to my RSS feed. If you want to follow me on facebook, twitter & co., please click the buttons on the left. This website is bloody new, so some parts have to be enhanced. If you find bugs, please report them. Feedback is welcome!
I wrote my last post more than two months ago, so it should be time for an update. What happend the last months? First I have to say that I’m still writing my master thesis and this will take a couple of weeks and brings along a less updated blog. But it’s not only hard work, it’s also fun. Fun – because I stayed nearly two month (May-July) on the Lofoten Islands for my studies and of course, I was able to combine studying with hiking and some photography. During my stay on the beautiful and small island of Værøy, I had the chance to catch the wonderful light of the midnight sun and some birds near the abandoned village of Mostad. Some f these pictures will be uploaded on flickr from time to time. Another great news for my wife and me is that we will move to Stokmarknes, Norway next month. Stokmarknes is a very small town (ca. 3000 inhabitants) on Hadseløya, which is part of the Vesterålen. Two days ago we got our apartment in Stokmarknes and most of the stuff we have to take with us is packed and we are almost ready for the relocation. So I expect, the next post will be written in our new Norwegian home. Hopefully, it won’t take another two months because that’s definitely to long. I think I will post some impressions from our relocation, the “start” in Stokmarknes and of course some new stories on photography – from my stay in Lofoten during the summer and some “up to date” stories from Hadseløya and the surrounding area. Stay tuned!
