Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 9: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling North.
The extended family was on a winter vacation in Norway, traveling north on the Hurtigruten ship M/S Kong Harald. This was day 6 of the voyage traveling north along the Norwegian coast. The stops on this day were in Øksfjord (02:15), Hammerfest (05:15-06:45), Havøysund (09:45) Honningsvåg (11:45-15:15), Kjøllefjord (17:45), Mehamn (20:00), and Verlevåg. During the stop in Honningsvåg we took a bus to North Cape (Nordkapp) traveling through the North Cape Tunnel. Later that night, the Captain announced that Auroras (Northern Lights) were visible.
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)Green and Red Northern Lights with the Big Dipper from the deck of the MS Kong Harald. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 12 mm, f/4, 13 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Topaz Define, and NIK Color Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)
Gone to See Portugal. Street Photography Workshop with Steve Simon. Day -1: Travel to Portugal.
I took a red-eye flight from Newark to Lisbon on TAP (Portugal Airlines). The “fast track” pre-boarding security lines at Newark terminal B were not open, so I had to remove my shoes, put each computer, notepad, and phone in separate trays. I also had to remove all the cameras from my camera bag. This is the third time this year that the “fast track” lanes at Newark were not staffed. TAP uses the SAS lounge in Newark. Good Nordic snacks before the flight. The TAP flight left a bit after the scheduled departure time, but still arrived in Lisbon almost an hour before the scheduled arrival time. The dinner served by TAP was excellent. The only time I have had airline food this good before was while traveling Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic (back in the days I was commuting to Cambridge, UK while working on a chemical automation project). After dinner, and most passengers fell asleep the cabin was dark enough that I could see the Big Dipper through my window. I was able to get a picture of the Big Dipper using a Fuji X-T3 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 3200, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1 sec). I held the camera up to the window for the long exposure. Manually focusing to infinity and holding the camera still for 1 second was a challenge.
Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.
Big Dipper from a commercial airline jet while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 3200, 35 mm, f/1.4, 1 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
