Wednesday (30-January-2013) — Denmark to Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 2: Copenhagen to Bergen.

I arrived in Copenhagen at 07:00, earlier than expected due to the favorable tail winds. It was still dark and raining. I have to get used to the sun rising later as we get further north. There was a long line waiting to go through passport control. It didn’t matter since my connecting flight to Bergen wouldn’t leave until 11:45. I was glad that my luggage was checked all the way to Bergen. I was probably early enough to catch the 08:30 flight to Bergen if it wasn’t for the size of the Copenhagen airport. It is more a shopping center than an airport terminal. I exchanged some currency and then found a quiet area in the airport with free Wi-Fi and comfortable seats to sleep. A bottle of Coke at the airport cost 22.5 DK.

The SAS flight from Copenhagen to Bergen was on a MD-82 jet. The plane was only 1/3 full, so no problem finding space for my camera bag. Heavy rain when we landed in Bergen. Passport control in Bergen was closed, so only needed to pass through customs. It appeared that they were only checking Norwegians for excess duty items. One interesting thing is that you can use coins from a variety of countries for the luggage carts. There is a chart showing the size and value of coins that will work. With my heavy bag, I opted to take a taxi from the airport to my hotel in Bergen (376 NOK). The Thon hotel had a room when I arrived. Unlike earlier visits to Norway, the hotel did not ask to see a passport. Had a late lunch (or early dinner) – cheeseburger, fries, and a beer at the attached Egon restaurant (242 NOK). I can see that Norway is going to be expensive. I slept a few hours then walked the four blocks to the Tourist Information center to buy a one day Bergen Pass. It was still raining hard, and I was cold and soaking wet by the time I got back to the hotel. The weather forecast for the next day in Bergen was partly cloudy and above freezing. After a long day of travel, I fell asleep.

Leaving Copenhagen. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 and 10 mm f/2.8 lens with Olympus FCON-T01 adapter (ISO 20, 7.5 mm, f/3.5, 1/400 sec). (David J. Mathre)

GPS Track: Copenhagen to Bergen (462 miles) (David J Mathre)

GPS Track: Bergen Airport to Thon Bristol Hotel in Bergen (11 miles) (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (30-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 10: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling South.

On the second day of the southbound Hurtigruten voyage, the ship stopped in eight ports: Mehamn (01:00-01:15); Kjøllefjord (03:15-03:30); Honningsvåg (06:00-06:15); Havøsund (08:15-08:30); Hammerfest (11:15-12:45); Øksfjord (15:30-15:45); Skjervøy (19:00-19:45); and Tromsø (23:45-01:30).

Happy Birthday Dad — From Norway.

Two days earlier the family got together to have a birthday celebration for my father before the majority of the group disembarked the Hurtigruten MS Kong Harald in Kirkenes.

Tuesday (29-January-2013) — Crossing the Atlantic Ocean

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 1: New Jersey to Copenhagen.

The more I travel, the more I try to travel light. Going to Norway to photograph northern lights in the middle of the winter makes this difficult. I needed to include cold weather clothing and I the right photo gear. To save some weight, I decided to use my Lowe internal frame mountain backpack (saving 4.5 lbs/2 kg vs. the rolling suitcase). This allowed me to include a winter parka, long underwear, and a heavy Norwegian sweater. The backpack went into a heavy nylon bag that would go as checked luggage for the flight to Norway. In all, just under 50 lbs (way too heavy).

For camera gear, I debated not taking a DSLR and only going with a mirrorless Nikon 1 V2 camera and Leica X2 camera. In the end, I did take a Nikon D800 with a 24 mm f/1.4G lens and a 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. I wanted to make sure that I had a camera and lenses that would work for low light work and has an internal interval timer. Nikon removed the interval timer when they upgraded the Nikon 1 V1 to V2 model. Just before leaving I purchased an Olympus FCON-T01 fisheye converter. This adapter has the same 40.5 mm thread used by the Nikon 1 series lenses. When attached to the Nikon 1 10mm f/2.8 lens, the field of view in the camera is increased from 27 mm to 20 mm (on a 35 mm sensor camera). After including a laptop computer, 1.5 TB USB storage drive, batteries, power supplies, and cables my ThinkTank backpack weighed just under 30 lbs. Since I planned to take this bag with me on the plane, the travel tripod and walking stick went in the checked luggage bag.

Not knowing what the weather would be like in New Jersey while gone, I turned the water off and drained the pipes. Over the last 3 years, power to the house has been out 21 days due to hurricanes and snow storms and I didn’t want to risk frozen pipes. Also, last week the hose to my washing machine burst. Luckily, I was home when this happened and didn’t suffer flooding.

I had a car service (Ground Link) drive me to the airport. The driver arrived 30 minutes early and got me to the airport in just over 1 hour. I was not able to print the boarding pass at home due to the SAS representative needing to confirm I had a valid passport. Interesting note – while going through Homeland Security they needed to pat down my beard??? Total time from home to the departure gate was 90 minutes.

Once on board, I had a window seat near the rear of the aircraft. The seat next to me was empty and there was plenty of room for my camera bag. Early in the flight I was a bit concerned that only Business and Economy Plus would get a meal on the flight. We just needed to wait our turn and did get served a hot meal. Drinks with the meal were included. During the rest of the flight coffee and tea are free in the Economy section of the plane. Families with children were treated well on the flight. I had a Garmin GPS with me and was able to track the progress of the flight (map below). For most of the eastbound flight we had a strong tail wind.

Leaving Newark. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 and 10 mm f/2.8 lens with Olympus FCON-T01 adapter (ISO 160, 7.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec). (David J. Mathre) — Leaving Newark. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens with Olympus FCON-T01 adapter (ISO 160, 7.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec). (David J. Mathre)

GPS Track: Newark to Copenhagen (3890 miles) (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (29-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 9: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling North Then South.

On the sixth and final day of the northbound Hurtigruten voyage, the MS Kong Harald stopped in four ports: Båtsfjord (00:30-01:00); Vardø (04:00-04:15); Vadsø (07:30-08:00); and Kirkenes (09:45-12:45). After spending 3 hours in Kirkenes, the ship turned around and began the southbound voyage stopping at three ports: Vardø (16:00-17:00); Båtsfjord (20:00-20:30); and Berlevåg (22:15-22:30). All but three from our group disembarked at Kirkenes to return to Florida.

Norway Winter Dawn on the M/S Kong Harald Approaching Kirkenes. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 28-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/2500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Gone to See Norway Mathre Family Tour 2007 (David J. Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (28-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 8: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling North.

On the fifth day of the northbound Hurtigruten voyage, the ship stops in seven ports: Øksfjord (02:00-02:15); Hammerfest (05:15-06:45); Havøsund (09:30-09:45); Honningsvåg (11:45-15:15); Kjøllefjord (17:30-17:45); Mehamn (19:30-20:00); and Berlevåg (22:30-22:45).

Moon at Dawn Over Havøysund Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 85 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 200, 85 mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec). (David J. Mathre)

Moon at Dawn Over Havøysund Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 85 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 200, 85 mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec). Modified using Nik Color Efex. (David J. Mathre)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series of posts, I am getting ready to revisit Norway. At the time of the 2007 trip I only had a DSLR for about 6 months. There were many things about it I didn’t know – I was very early in the learning curve. By reviewing and analyzing the old images, I learn from my mistakes. When I look at the images that I took during that trip I cringe knowing that I could have done a better job – composition, exposure, focus, etc. I typically include camera settings with the description to help when I analyze the images. Since then cameras have improved significantly. Likewise, the software used to process the images has improved. The new software lets me fix or improve the older images, and in some cases I have reprocessed the images. One of my goals for this upcoming trip is to take fewer, but better images. Comments and criticisms about these images are welcomed.