Landscape - David Mathre Photography

Eleven-Years Ago (24-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Winter Family Vacation. Day 4: Northbound Hurtigruten MS Kong Harald Norwegian Coastal Voyage (Florø to Kristandsund).

In addition to transporting passengers, the Hurtigruten ships are working ships that carry freight, mail, automobiles, and fresh food between several ports along the Norwegian coast. Many of these stops occur during the night, and only last for short (15 minutes to 1 hour) periods of time. The schedule for the first full day of the northbound voyage stops at the following ports: Florø (04:30-04:45); Maløy (06:45-07:30); Torvik (10:20-10:45); Ålesund (12:00-15:00); Molde (17:30-18:30); Kristandsund (22:00-23:00). We spent the early afternoon walking around Ålesund including going to the restaurant Fjellstua situated on top of the town mountain Aksla. Although the restaurant was closed, it has the best view in Ålesund. I was able to take several images which were then combined into a wide panoramas of the town. We got a bit confused as to where the ship was docked, but did ultimately get back before it departed.

Ålesund Winter Panorama. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 12-24 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). Composite of 3 images combined with Kolor AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre) — Ålesund Winter Panorama from Mount Aksla. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). Composite of 3 images combined with Kolor AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Eleven-Years Ago (23-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Winter Vacation. Day 3: Bergen then Embarkation on the Northbound Hurtigruten MS Kong Harald Norwegian Coastal Voyage.

The sky was clear and there was new snow on the ground when we woke in Bergen. The locals said that it had been raining for the last 50 days. I think many took the day off to enjoy the sun and snow. The Hurtigruten MS Kong Harald would not be departing until later that night, so we had the day to visit Bergen. As part of our travel package, we had a one day Bergen Card for transportation and various attractions. After spending some time outside around the Bergen harbor and Bergen Fish Market, we took the Fløibarnen Funicular to the top of Mount Fløyen. We also visited the art museum to see some of Edvard Munch’s paintings. Finally, as it started to get dark we made our way to the Hurtigruten terminal. I’ve included a fisheye view of my cabin and the stateroom at the front of the ship. As we learned later in the voyage, rooms near the front (or rear) of the ship move the most in heavy seas. Since then I always try to get a cabin near the middle of a ship for any voyage that may experience heavy seas.

Bergan Harbor Panorama. Composite of 3 images taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/4, 1/15 sec). (David J Mathre)

Eleven-Years Ago (22-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Winter Vacation. Day 2: Railroad from Oslo to Bergen.

On Day 2 we herded the group and all of the luggage to the train station using public transportation. We then boarded the Bergen Railway high-speed train from Oslo to Bergen. All of these images were taken while on the train. The train stops at the highest point on the line at Finse (1222 meters above sea level). When we got to Bergen there was a bit of a glitch. The hotel where we all were supposed to be staying didn’t have any records of our reservation. The hotel knew they had a problem with 20+ folks with luggage sitting in the lobby. After several hours of discussions and phone calls rooms were found for everyone. By then it was too late to see much of Bergen.

Train Spotting: Euro Shuttle SKD-226.31 Engine viewed while traveling from Oslo to Bergen. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. (David J Mathre)

Sunday (21-January-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey: Colorful Contrails and Clouds at Dawn.

More of the clouds were contrails this morning. It was a lot warmer this morning with most of the snow gone. The deer ran off as soon as I got outside (barely visible below the tree).

Dawn Morning Contrails and Clouds. Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Composite of 8 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 16 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite generated with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Dawn Morning Clouds, Contrails, and Birds. Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Composite of 7 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 16 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite generated with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Eleven-Years Ago (21-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Winter Vacation. Day 1: Oslo.

Revisiting a family trip to Norway in 2007. Some of images have been posted before, and some are new. The trip started in Oslo. I flew in from New Jersey, and the rest of the family flew in from Florida. All together, I think there were 22-24 of us in the group. On this first day, we toured Oslo. At the end of the day we had pizza with Arnie. It took a fisheye lens to get the whole group in one image. During this trip, I was using a Nikon D2xs camera with 7 lenses (10.5 mm fisheye, 12-24 mm, 28-70 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 80-400 mm, and 85 mm). Before I learned to travel light…

Family in Norway, Winter in Oslo Norway (David J Mathre)