The Arctic - Northern Europe

Roots Of Lyngens

SILVER MEDAL AWARD in Landscape category at TRIERENBERG SUPER CIRCUIT 2021 photography competition - Austria SILVER WINNER in the category Fine Art - Landscape in 2020 TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FOTO AWARDS The balance and dramatic vibe in this capture represent low light afternoon during winter in northern Norway. These root systems can be found everywhere here, but you would just walk by them, without paying attention. They are crawling on the ground and I found them really interesting to work with. I was looking for one really special, with a kind of sharp and agressive shapes which could remember the steep and tall mountains of the Lyngen Alps in the background. From the bottom left of the frame, this one came just perfect to cross the frame and lead your eye to the background up to the pink sky during early afternoon.

Deep Blues

Norway hosts some of the most amazing landscapes you can find in Europe. We find here amazing wildlife, turquoise water, and dramatic mountain ranges that attracts so many nature lovers like me.. and we see why. This is a vertical panorama of 6 shots in 15mm, taken from a cliff side, with a view on the northern part of Senja.

Hatches The Ice

ND Awards 2021 International Photography Contest - AWARDED HONORABLE MENTION in Nature: Landscapes category Tromsø - Norway Under cold temperatures, the waters of the fjords freeze during high tides. When the water level then comes down during the low tide, the ice hits the top of the rocks and anything present below and reveals these amazing creatures sticking out of the sharp ice sheet. It can sometimes remind us of dinosaur eggs simply hatching from the frozen ground. It gives this really mysterious mood topped up with the polar lights of winter in the far North. The technique used here is focus stacking, shot on 1/10 of a second, on F11 for great sharpness and neat highlight control. I chose this composition as it brings a lot of flow through the image with these repetitive patterns and shapes. It blends sharpness and softness for a great balance of textures. The polar lights cast such a gentle light which brings a lot of homogenous mood to the overall frame.

Autumnal Sea Bed

Lofoten Islands - Norway Like dead leaves are carpeting the forest floor, the seaweed was covering the bottom sand, and the sky filled with warmth. By reaching the southern - western side of Lofoten islands, I discovered a place and mountain range similar to The Mordor, only accessible by boat. It is an incredible area to put our feet on, filled with some of the most remarkable mountain ranges of Northern Norway. Where you can drive your car on the Eastern side of the Lofoten Islands, and admire beautiful friendly mountain shapes, the landscape I met on the other side seemed unexplored and not made for humans. It is the unwelcoming side of Lofoten. I chose here a portrait shape to be able to catch this warm light casting through the rocks. By using a polarizer filter, I managed to enhance this amazing vibrance of the seaweed laying at the bottom of this pound, mimicking the late autumn forest floor.

The Light Swing

Ringvasoy - Norway Discovering new places is always something that brought me so much happiness. It starts when I open a map, I find a good terrain, and try to guess where the views will be the most amazing, and check the weather forecast to make it all work. On this mission, I found some crazy openings through the clouds that acted as a spotlight casting heavy orange and pinkish light on the mountain ranges of Ringvassoya, in Northern Norway.

Bubble Moss

Sometimes we just walk past them, we walk on them, we don't pay attention to them; but with the right eye, we can find compositions everywhere. It is a matter of how to place subjects in the frame and how to use them in order to lead the eye from a point to another. I was walking behind my friends when I looked on my left and saw these repetitive mossy patterns just slightly covered with snow in front of the mountain range. It looked like nothing interesting but gave out a crazy-looking result with the use of the right lens.

Lakselv Hytte

Lyngen Alps - Northern Norway The drive along the Lyngen Alps is something to witness at least once in a lifetime. We find here some tiny red boat sheds like this one here, typical Norwegian, on the edge of the water, with the incredible view on the tall and dramatic peaks. They stand tall and high in the background, catching the sunlight until the last glimpse. It was the second time I went to this location on day time, and finally, I got the shot I wanted. I am here facing South West, so it is a hard spot to shoot Auroras, but great orientation for polar lights and pink winter skies.

Sable De Bunnes

I dreamed of going to this exact spot for months.. but I knew it is a one-time thing.. and to catch the right light at this exact moment will be pure luck. We left the boat docked in Vindstad, started the hike, and crossed our fingers. Once arrived on the plateau, the light became so impressive. We had a full view of the beach, surrounded by dramatic tall peaks and cliffs. The clouds were on the way but also mountain tops, which brought one of the best games of light and shadow I have seen in Northern Norway. An insane moment that constructed these lines going from sunlight to hidden light. The rock formation helped a lot to find a fluid composition, mimicking the horizontal patterns of the relief behind. At the moment I shot that one, I remember yelling: Oohhh man! What the shmuck is that light ?!! speaking to myself... as I often do when I am out in the nature shooting.

Before The Rise

Ramfjord - Tromsø - Northern Norway Under cold temperatures, the waters of the fjords freeze during high tides. When they come down during the low tide, we find amazing creatures sticking out of the seafloor. We have here in the foreground an old log of deadwood brought from the tide. I wanted to be extremely careful on how to position myself in this photo as I wanted to keep a clean and neat reflection on the water. The tide was coming back in really slowly until it brought me this mirror-like mountain shape. It was so impressive to see how the ice was just resting flat on the sand making it extremely slippery.

The Cavelings

The technique in this shot is so pushed. Such a hard task to get the right exposure all along with the shot, shooting fast on one side to reach the silhouette, and long on the other to be able to balance tones of colors and light properly. It builds an incredible story into the scene; it illustrates the exploration of the unknown.

The Slippery Leap

Kvaloya - Northern Norway On a mission with my best friend Ivan Romic, paraglider pilot, we are here looking for a place to take off, searching for the steepness of the hills, few steps away from the side of the cliff. The weather was quite temperamental, with a great opening through the sky in the far back, and dark moody clouds sending us snow above the head, making this scouting adventure quite tricky, but really successful at the end. During this adventure, Ivan sent me the biggest chills I had felt by sliding down the steep and landing a few dozens of meters down in the deep snow - luckily not injuring himself. Ivan did fly off the cliff on the right side, and I myself snowboarded all the way down fresh powder.

Single Evening

When we arrived on Æssøya, we had no idea what we would find. It looked like a ghost fishing settlement, abandoned long ago. The closer we were approaching by sailboat, the more impressive and remote this island was looking. Out there, we found crazy-looking granite and volcanic rock formations that rose from the sea after the last ice age. This place was like a paradise to find photo composition with all these directive lines, but made it so hard to isolate one subject, on which your eye can rest on and feel; This is what I am looking at. My aim was to find some flower to contrast with the moody sky and bring vibrance to the frame, which I never found; until this little bush caught my attention.

Golden Layers

Senja - Northern Norway A cold afternoon under an amazing sky on fire in the south of the infamous Ånderdalen National Park. The frozen winter days are excellent to transform the landscape. I was driving back from southern Senja toward North, and from the road, I could see these shapes just calling for me. I parked on the side, grabbed my camera equipment, and walked down by the water to find these amazing creatures. It was not easy to find the right one which could be framed perfectly but also have these repetitive patterns behind it to make the whole scene homogene. The ice was unstable which lead to wet boots and soaked socks, but that is the price to pay to obtain such incredible shots of this moment.

Here We Are

Facing South, this the discovery of a new place, a new profile of mountain, a new moment that makes me realize why I live in Northern Norway

So Lonely

Takvatnet - Northern Norway Hunting the good light has become an obsession for me. Many are the days of looking at the window and seeing a snowstorm, pushing me to stay inside nice and warm in front of the fire. These days bring such different opportunities and I am so glad to push myself and cease these moments. This is how that little tree caught my eye, hiking into the wind and horizontal snowfall, so lonely, he was just standing there with a huge curtain of snow behind him.

God's Plan

Kaperdalen - Senja The road is winding from the shadow area, through the incredible low hills leading to the coastline. The backlight offers vibrant contrast and relief into the frame. The more we look toward the right side, the more depth comes to our eyes. Always looking for the dramatic light, the perfect moment. These moody times provide the strongest emotion elevators ever. I adore this kind of weather which sometimes can be so hard on you. At the beginning of the day, my hopes of catching this type of light were really down as visibility was quite limited. Starting my hike from the roadside, I poped my snowboard on my back and started hiking up these amazing hills covered with snow until I could be high enough to look behind me and have more depth insight. I get stuck in a whiteout after 20 minutes, and think: "Why am I doing that ?". One minute later, the sky opens up, and dramatic light casts in, and I think : "ah that is why..." My camera is always in my backpack and some days I am really wondering why should I take it with me. These are the days that usually provide the best shooting opportunities.

Fresh Dip

Lyngen Alps - Northern Norway After spending overnight in the smallest cabin, we reached that spot, literally next to where we were parked. I was with two girls friends who decided to go for a skinny dip before driving back; Meanwhile, I was busy capturing these two rocks that lead my eye to the dramatic sky in the background.

Peak Of Opening

Lofoten Islands - Northern Norway - Taking the passenger boat, traveling around the Lofoten brought me to magical views of the area. I saw this composition coming slowly, and waited for the tiny island to be perfectly lined up with the mountain and the middle ground to click 5 times. The third shot appeared to be the one. The sun was is in such great position to light up the sharp peaks covered in low clouds. On the foreground, this rock is covered in Cormorans, loving the atmosphere and the cold breeze of the end of winter.

Sun, Sand & Snow

Kattfjordeidet - Kvaløy - Northern Norway - Always loved to trick the eye using back lighting such as this one. The low light in the Arctic is especially good for it, blending with the relief, and offering incredible light display which i love to play with, using dark shadows, lit hills and creative white balance. Hard to find a scale on this shot, as a human would be a simple tiny dot. The wind creates these leading lines, and corniches; but without knowing, it becomes hard to find out if we are facing sand ? or snow ?! Desert sand ? or Arctic snow ?

The Overhang

Maritindan - Northern Norway By spending winters in Northern Norway, I am always so excited to go touring in a new area without knowing what I will discover on the top. This view from Fagrefjellet was amazing but the least expected. I thought I would be able to capture amazing images of the view facing North, but when we reached the top, there were huge overhanging corniches blocking the access, making it not safe to look for composition.

Southern Canines

Senja - Northern Norway This is the first time I notice these two canines sticking out of the ground in the southern part of Senja. I wondered at this moment: Why have not I seen any photo of this place before? From first sight, I have to admit the light conditions were close to perfect. The tide was high and sent an awesome cycle of waves crashing on the flat rocks. It allowed me to build a powerful foreground.

The Mountain Edge

The polar lights from the top of the mountains in Northern Norway

Le Meilleur Ami

Senja - Northern Norway - Human and his best friend hiking up the ridge, from sea level to 650m elevation.
We reached the top ski touring, and witnessed some of the most amazing sunset of the season. The pleasure of shooting up there was just so unique, to feel like not everyone comes here and grab that kinda shot. 
The wind was strong, and we lost the power of talking to each other, but just looked one each other, (dog included) smiling and admiring whats around us. We packed the gears, locked the bindings, and got ourselves ready to snowboard down under twilight and amazing powder snow; Simply the best feeling it could be. 
 Nero, our four legged friend got to show us how strong, powerful and reliable they can be, and this captures just shows it all. The human and dog complicity.
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