Photoblog

Carmen was suggesting me to write a post about how I decide to buy a new important element for my photo gear. So today topic is : finding a solution for shooting night/aurora images. I have Nikon 16-35 F4 which was decent in the recent trip in Lofoten but a bit too slow. I ended up taking 15-30 seconds exposure at ISO 3200 or 6400 and  I would have definitely liked an extra stop too keep the iso at 1600 or to have shorter time during moving Northern lights. Other options that I have and I could are NIkon 24-70 F2.8 which is fast enough but not wide enough or Nikon 28MM f1.8 which is even faster and can be a decent solution if I can take 2 or more shots and combine them in a panorama. So the new lens should be good quality, sharp across the frame, with good control of coma and vignetting. F2.8 is a must as well. 1. The first obvious choice is Nikon 14-24 – a giant in the world of ultrawide lenses. probably the best ever made. I know Canon people buying this le...

More than one month ago we returned  from one of the most amazing holidays of our life: a week in Lofoten islands, an archipelago belonging to Norway and located above arctic pole. We opted for a private photo tour with Alex Conu , who moved a year ago in the Nordic archipelago. Lofoten is located above arctic circle, offering perfect location for observing (and shooting) Northern lights, the fantastic visual phenomenon caused by solar activity. We decided to go in the middle of March, for a milder temperature, quite large day time and of course high chances of aurora due to the equinox. Reaching to Lofoten it takes changing three planes from Copenhagen, even if the map distance is not that big. Wideroe  are the only ones flying till there (Leknes airport) and we had stopovers in Trondheim and Bodø (respectively Bodø and Oslo on the way back). Flying with the small  turboprop airplanes gave us a strange feeling of returning in time to a place were nature is...

The highlight of our summer holiday was Isle of Skye. The beautiful island is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides. It is quite easy to get there. We went by bus from Inverness in a 3.5 hours journey (a bus trip between Inverness and Portree costs 24 pounds). The first part of the way was rather boring along Loch Ness but after the road left the lake and continued through the mountains the view became much more entertaining. On the way back, we decided to take train from Kyle of Localsh, an alternative a bit more comfortable. During our 6 nights in Skye, we stayed in a very basic bed and breakfast. Nothing fancy, just a roof on top of our head, a shower after a tiring day and a full Scottish breakfast with lots of fried eggs and bacon. There are plenty of such B&Bs in Portree and in other places on the islands. Skye can offer both the feeling of a crowd holiday place, with lots of people doing the regular stuff like boat trips, enjoying...

We start the day in Eastbourne, again with traditional English food, served by the owner and his (maybe) Russian wife. Today we plan a trip to Beachy Head and Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is the highest chalk cliff in UK and a renewed place for suicides. There are two lighthouses there: one on the next hill,the older one, called Belle Tout, was built in 1834 but was moved recently to prevent being damaged by erosion.  The second one, a 43 m colossus was operational in 1902, being build to compensate for the lack of light given by Belle Tout in very foggy weather. Up there, its very windy, making impossible to keep the camera still on the tripod for a few minutes. We take couple of shots, mostly from a slope that is a bit protected from the wind and we head to Seven Sisters. Seven Sisters, now a natural park, consist of a series of chalk cliffs, having a very bright colour. They are used in movies as an alternative for the White Cliffs of Dover. We go up and down, on...

We started the day early in Torquay: another portion of bacon and eggs. Its 6:30 and its only us and some construction workers in the hotel restaurant. Its raining outside. Not heavy rain, but dense and depressing. Today we have planed to go to Teignmouth and we need to be there early to catch the high tide. The rain might make the trip a bit less fun. But lets hope it will be over in couple of hours or at least we can find a break in it. With our stomachs full, we take the train to Teignmouth. Due to some repair works, the train is not running directly, but a replacement bus is taken at Newton Abbot. So, instead of half an hour by train, the trip gets over an hour long. Thats how it is. We arrive in Teigmouth. It is still raining while we quickly head to the sea front. There is almost nobody there: very few people walking their dogs and couple of workers , doing some repairs around the pier. We mount the camera on a tripod, to shoot the pier. The rain is multiplied...

The end of year wrap-up continues with part 2. Lots of images that are so close to my heart that it was so difficult to decide between them. July: Finally a good image with Bella Sky Hotel. Taken in May, in a day with some crazy clouds, it turned out pretty well after post-processing. I often left the hotel with frustration as not being able to capture it as I wanted, but this time, the weather and light really teamed up with the beautiful architecture to create an image that I like a lot. Bella Sky is one of the finest pieces of architecture in Denmark: the largest hotel in Scandinavia, offering 814 rooms and a mind puzzling modern design by my favourite architecture firm in Denmark: 3XN. At some point I was planning to make a series featuring this building, but now I have the impression that I already captured its soul, so not sure I will have the energy to work at 3-4 more images with Bella Sky hotel. But you can never know. August: In August we spent...