Category: Skyscape

Views of the sky. Sunrise, sunset, clouds, and weather

Tuesday (11-March-2014) — Iceland

Gone to See Iceland 2014 – Winter Photography Trip. Day 3: Reykjavik.

I spent the much of the morning at the Solar Voyager (Sólfar) sculpture with the goal of making a time-lapse video of people visiting the sculpture. Hopefully, someday I will have time to process the images. While working on this four women with Viking helmets came up to me and asked me to take their picture in front of the sculpture. All in the days work of a photographer… Further down the walking path along  Sæbraut street on the Reykjavik coastline is The Partnership sculpture.

Four Women with Viking Helmets at the Sun Voyager (Sólfar) in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
Four Women with Viking Helmets at the Sun Voyager (Sólfar) in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
Four Women with Viking Helmets at the Sun Voyager (Sólfar) in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
Four Women with Viking Helmets at the Sun Voyager (Sólfar) in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
Four Women with Viking Helmets at the Sun Voyager (Sólfar) in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
Four Women with Viking Helmets at the Sun Voyager (Sólfar) in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Zeiss 12 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
Partnership Sculpture in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)
Partnership Sculpture in Reykjavik. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (09-March-2014) — Iceland

Gone to See Iceland in the Winter Photography Tour. Day 1: Reykjavik & Northern Lights.

When we went out it didn’t look too promising – cold, cloudy, windy, and some snow. Helga, from Tours by Locals found a spot about 10 km south of Keflavik International Airport where when the clouds cleared long enough to see this sequence. Eighty images taken with a Nikon Df camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 1 sec) One image taken every 5 sec. The 8 second video is shown at 10 fps. It was cold and the display didn’t last that long. I can see that the weather changes quickly in Iceland, and hope for more chances over the next week. The Icelandic Met Office is a good resource for both the weather and northern lights forecasts in Iceland.

Reykjavik Northern Lights. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 1 sec). (David J Mathre)
Reykjavik Northern Lights. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 1 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (09-March-2014) — Iceland

Gone to See Iceland in the Winter. Day 1: Reykjavik.

Sun Voyager (Sólfar). Winter in Reykjavik. From Wikipedia “Sun Voyager is a dreamboat, an ode to the sun. Intrinsically, it contains within itself the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.” Last summer when I visited Reykjavik there were many people surrounding the sculpture, and even more taking pictures. This morning it was snowing and cloudy. The sun started to come out and I found myself alone at the site. Within 5 minutes many more came and I was no longer alone. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 mirrorless camera and 12 mm f/2.8 Zeiss lens (ISO 200, 12 mm, f/2.8, 1/3500 sec).

Sun Voyager (Sólfar). Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 mirrorless camera and 12 mm f/2.8 Zeiss lens (ISO 200, 12 mm, f/2.8, 1/3500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sun Voyager (Sólfar). Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 mirrorless camera and 12 mm f/2.8 Zeiss lens (ISO 200, 12 mm, f/2.8, 1/3500 sec). (David J Mathre)

One-Year Ago (14-February-2013) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013 Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 17: Tromsø.

Northern Lights in Norway. The entire sky just exploded just after midnight on Valentines day. My fisheye lens was not wide enough to capture it all!!!. Images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 3200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 2 sec).

Wednesday (12-February-2014) — Florida

Gone to See America 2014 Road Trip. Day 12: Big Cypress National Preserve.

Big Cypress Swamp at Dawn from the Loop Road. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens.

Big Cypress Swamp at Dawn. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 25 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 7. (David J Mathre)
Big Cypress Swamp at Dawn. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 25 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 7. (David J Mathre)