Norway

Quintuplet Prism

This is from a mountain trip up the mountain top called Saksa, basically meaning scissors as it comes so close to another top making a pair of scissors, to the far right the top of Slogen is seen one of the tallest mountains in sunnmøre at 1564 while we are at 1073 and we started at about 100 or 50meters up, so we went about 1000 meters up, and the craziest thing is that we managed to get all the way to the top with my 87 year old Grandfather! :O, I sure hope Im still that fit when I get that old if I even manage to make it that old. He is a great inspiration to me in so many ways and is also a great painter and a pioneer in our family. I was blown away when we got to the very top of the mountain just a few meters above the clouds or even in the clouds it gave a surreal atmosphere and was nice to still see the neighbouring mountain tops but what I was astounded by was the rainbow in the clouds opposite the sun, when I popped the CPL filter on 5 bows appeared, there is two in the center though they are small and then three big ones but the biggest is mainly just a nice white frame to the inner bows. Truly an experience worth the effort, time and energy and the muscle pains that lasted about 5 days later. Would be nice sometime in the future to try camping on top of a mountain like this, and this one was nice and soft still here on the top from the moss which is unusual. Autumn provided a lot of nice colors along the way as well as a stunning sunset on the decent and red leaves from the blueberry bushes all the way up and down the mountain. The image has a little bit of toning done and fixing up mistakes of the camera but very little was need to have this image scream, and I feel it stands on its own as a masterpiece without me having to do my magic on it. Have you ever seen this light phenomena and if so with 5 rainbows? Tell me about it if you have and if you havent I hope you will someday see it! Prints are available at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/quintuplet-prism-iwan-groot.html?newartwork=true

Adventure Around the Corner

This summer Im planning a few trips, to scout, to photograph, to enjoy nature, to take a helicopter ride and hold workshops in this fjord and mountainous region of norway. This is a fjord many around the world come to see, with the beautiful waterfalls on the sides of the mountains falling in the fjord from steep mountain sides, beautiful color water from the snow and glaciers melting in spring, lush green grass and forests, dramatic mountains, old houses and farms, and a very quaint village. This fjord often during the summer has queues of cruise ships lined up to dock, enter or exit this fjord and can be tight for them. A film was made based off that there is a part of mountain not far from here that is bound to fall off sometime and will make a tsunami in this fjord and other fjords around it. The crack is always being watched, and helicopters are very often heard over head in the area.  If you are interested to taking a ride with me in a helicopter check out this link for the event  https://www.facebook.com/events/229045930793371/ Prints of this image at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/adventure-around-the-corner-iwan-groot.html

Sunset at the Edge

This is a shot from the summer, and I actually took over a 100 exposures a few HDRs and 100 for a simulated ND long exposure, how ever the individual exposures of the waves and them residing are more interesting, All of the other versions of sequence and scene made good ratings, In this version I took the best of the three other versions, and combined them and used another flow that are not in the other shots. Also in this case I made things smoother, and sharper while maintaining very low noise. Nowadays the the sun is making things dark around 9 and it is making me look forward to the light of summer with long days and a bit of warmth, and sunshine but it is bittersweet and I will miss the Stars, planets, milky way and Auroras dancing and filling the dark night sky. I like the light of summer which I find is warm but I love the options that Autumn, Winter, and Spring bring. This shot is on the edge of Bjørnøya where you have a good view of vigra, lepsøya and haramsøya, I love this little island that has so much untouched nature, and embedded with WWII bunkers.

Fossilized

This is a really cool location, It would be interesting to do some starry sessions here, and I wonder what it looked like here on march 17th when the northern lights went way down south. The special turquoise color in the water comes from the water melting off the glaciers in the area, where there are quite a bit of them. I personally love this photo because of the pointy top of the mountain Eggenibba and the calm colorful water of Bergheimsvatnet as well as the fossil that I saw trapped in the rock right before me. you might seen the pattern of planks that formed the outer part of the rock, but those has rotted away while there is still one embedded in the rock that has been transformed into a fossil, I love fossils, I guess one reason is because they are evidence of how fast things can happen and actually more likely prove the existence of the God in the Bible and how Scientist often use it to support there biased theories for own beliefs rather than seeing stuff like it is.

Geological Exploration

I like this version better, where I used more exposure to make a clean transition to the light coming into the tunnel, a better texture, and the various colors that is in the geology of the cave. For me it is a magical place that I really want to go back to make a star trail photo. maybe some steel wool. According to a sign outside of the cave it is the largest Ocean Cave in Scandinavia Located in Løvsøya in Haram kommune in Norway. check out the location if you want to see where. goes about 70 meters inwards. there was a little area you might be able to crawl a bit further but would be probably be too tight for most people.

Take Some Time

There were really nice colors today so my brother basically told me to go out and take a photo of it. I was too far away from any place I wanted to take photos of in time for the peak of colors, then I took a trip down to the shoreside here in town to see if there was anything worth taking photos of with the sunset. Also is another photo to add to my Winter collection. the mountains with snow on them and the sunset. I believe it is 3 or 4 exposure blended together, the tripod was in the water to capture the lone rock with the dock. you can follow me here or at https://www.facebook.com/artiwangroot Like, Favorite, Comment, Share, Enjoy! =D

Standing Along

Today we drove by this location twice to our destination and the way back on the way back I quickly went out and took the photo I've been waiting to do for a long time. It has been really pretty how everything is covered in snow these days. looking forward to more excursions. you can follow me here or at https://www.facebook.com/artiwangroot Like, Favorite, Comment, Share, Enjoy! =D

Colorful Dusk

500px Photo ID: 111687451 - Throwback thursday, here is a shot from the winter when I went out to Lepsøya and to visit Hellevik, and along the way I took a few shots including Kjærstadsanden, and used a intervalometer to capture various shots of the waves crashing and receeding from the seaweed bundle left behind on the beach. Being on sand beaches makes me sentimental and sometimes homesick, everywhere Ive lived Ive been close to a nice sandbeach, except here in norway, I have to go quite a distance or take time to arrive at a beach I like and never warm enough for me to sunbathe to a sweat and then jump in the ocean for a quick swim to cool off and then repeat which is something I really miss. I also love waves, This is a single exposure and darkening the top of the shot and really brings forth the nice colors you sometimes get in the sunset, at the beginning of the time at the beach I got more golden colors but towards the time I left the beach the colors turned more to the pink side. the land you see straight ahead is Haramsøya and behind that is Flemsøya/Skuløya/Longva. I also made a logo for myself to include in my website hopefully be able to put on receipts, and maybe business cards in the future, Im also working on a timelapse from the last two years about the nights in norway and trying to make a better quality version than what I previously made. hope you guys like this one that has been sitting on my computer for a long time without seeing the public.

Pastel Mountain Tops

Last weekend Went on a snowboarding trip for 6 hours on saturday and 4 on sunday, was great weather, since having all the equipment on my back added quite a bit of weight and made me unbalanced I ended up taking a bit of the gear out of the camera bag, and trying to shoot everything without a tripod, which goes alright when there is snow everywhere and there is so much more light. Even though this looks like long exposure I actually just used a motion blur in Photoshop to smooth out the clouds, which I found more appealing. I love all the texture and nuances you can find in these type of landscapes with so much snow. you can follow me here or at https://www.facebook.com/artiwangroot Like, Favorite, Comment, Share, Enjoy! =D

Decaying Barriers

Something manmade things in nature fade and decay before the elements of nature. I find it always very fascinating when I see a manmade thing decaying in nature, it reminds me of the forces of nature, how strong they are, how much they persevere and always win. and one day on this earth everything will be destroyed and consumed in fire before a new earth is made. A little context of where this is it is in Kjølås of Stranda, overlooking Storfjord, the lights on the left are Liabygda and the little light on the right, right by the fjord is linge across from eidsdal which you go through to visit the famous town and fjord of Geiranger. I still trying to get used to making sharp images with minimal noise, and Im hoping this one is high enough quality, (even though it is somewhat fake, the moon was actually in another part of the sky, but from the same time and place. =D ) Hope you all enjoy this piece that is reaching for the sky during blue hour in the spotlight of the rising moon.

Relax for Reconciliation

This is after the colors from sunset have faded and all that is left if the color blue and that what is near nuances from the cold color. I really liked how the exposure looked in this shot with the flow from the river is mostly smoothed out but just little flakes and spurts giving a slightly rougher look. I was actually able to work from just one exposure in this shot to get what I wanted. I really like settings where a little stream or river is returning to the big ocean blue, or one of its fjords, and is a visualization of H2O going around in its cycle from gas, ice and liquid during the winter. however I wouldn't shoot what ever stream going back to a body of water, I still look for a texture, pattern or something unique in the stream. The name of this little bay or vik is øygardsvika between kjølåsvika, and helsemvika, around the corner of stranda. If you follow the fjord into the right just before the pointy mountain on the right you will head towards the very famous fjord of Geiranger. if you know the name of that mountain I would like to include it in the description however don't find a good source on the internet. but if i got it right. it is called grøtet which 1509m high http://www.norgeskart.no/#9/88742/6928053

No Danger

This peninsula on the island of Godøy has a lighthouse in the town of Alnes that is very very often photographed, and therefore countless photos of the Lighthouse, but still very beautiful and would love to have an evening session there especially with a view of the northern lights. I would have liked to try out several other angles compositions and poses, but with the time I had as well as danger of scouring locations for the camera. If I had rope with me I would have tried to go down to another ledge to get a low angle view. I tried to get an angle where i would get the town of alnes in the background, while some people rather put it next to. but I wanted to give the view of the rock going off the cliff. the foreground is a bit messier than I wanted though.

On the Cliffs of Norway

One of my favourite shots so far from what I've captured og this village, though it isn't the most spectacular or unique thing of this island but as far as shots of this location it is unique since the more spectacular views are so often photographed. Im scared of heights and dont like getting too close to the edge. this is the top of a waterfall that is usually small but on rainy days can be quite visible. and is a great sharp cliff with a little remaining snow with the beautiful town of Alnes in the background. Feel Free to Share =D Prints available at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/on-the-cliffs-of-norway-iwan-groot.html