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Krokvatnet and Tomasjordnes

Krokvatnet and Tomasjordnes

Right now the snow (sigh) is falling outside the window, and I long back to the long stretch of sunny days we had for a while. Oh well, at least I have time to catch up with my blog 😉 Here are some photos from an evening trip to Krokvatnet, which is one of the Ti pÃ¥ Topp winter turs this year. We went on ski’s and we were racing against the growing shadows all the way up… eventually we lost 😀

On the way to Krokvatnet, with the top of Tromsdaltinden in the background Reaching our goal: the ti-på-topp turboks

The way up had been quite tiring, but the way down was lots of fun! Nice soft snow, and enough space to make turns. In the “forest” (the trees are tiny) we found a lot of ryper (ptarmigan/grouse). They don’t seem very keen on flying, they run around a lot. Some of them would stand underneath a bush and jump up repeatedly to reach a branch – it was hilarious to watch! I tried to come close to get some photos, but some ninja decided he wanted to be in the photo too and of course scared the bird away…

Paul decided he wanted a photo of him and the rype (ptarmigan/grouse) so he sneaked up like a ninja... which of course made the bird fly away A ptarmigan (or grouse, rype in Norwegian) in a small bush - so well camouflaged!

The sunset was beautiful!

Sunset, this photo was taken at 20:30 Spectacular colours on our way down from Krokvatnet

On our way back we stopped at the supermarket at Tomasjordnes, an area on the mainland with very new apartment blocks. It’s really modern, with houses on poles standing in the water. I’d recently seen someone who live there post photos from his balcony and I was really impressed by the view. So out of curiosity, we decided to walk around and look at the neighborhood. It’s surprisingly nice 🙂

This wreck is quite famous in tromsø :) I have seen many great photos of it, often with lots of cormorants sitting on it. No cormorants today, but a pretty sunset! Living out in the fjord... I envy their views!

And look at the view some people have from their flats… I’m jealous!!

The view from Tomasjordnes towards the bridge and the cathedral, what a view!

It’s really nice that the days are long enough now for after-work trips 🙂 although it does mean that the northern lights season is over for now. But that evening it JUST about got dark enough for the northern lights to be visible… a last farewell 🙂 I took this photo behind our flat, it was nearly 1 in the morning and I should have been in bed as I had a shift starting at 06:30 the next morning… oops 😉

A last farewell to the northern lights season...

Spring Auroras

Spring Auroras

Last night the aurora was out again – and I was keen to get some photos. The midnight sun is creeping up on us, and soon it will be too light to see the northern lights – so better make the most of it now! The aurora wasn’t that bright last night, and had to compete with the brightening moon too. At Sydspissen (the south tip of Tromsø island) I found this nice boat house, and now there was finally enough moon light to include it in the photo. The sky wasn’t as bright as I was hoping, there were some high clouds – but that did result in a pretty (partial) moon halo!

Aurora seen from Sydspissen A bright arch above the boat house

Aurora shining straight through the moon ;) Aurora and partial moon halo

Aurora Reflections

Aurora Reflections

We had a very clear night yesterday, and I was keen to get some aurora pictures. I went to Sydspissen, the south tip of Tromsø island. It’s a very calm and sheltered place, and last night there was no wind at all. The water of the fjord was like a mirror, and the reflections were fantastic 🙂 Such a magic night!

Aurora seen from Sydspissen A first arch gets brighter

And here we go, a fantastic show started! Getting brighter... on the right a plane on its way to land at Tromsø airport

It was such a calm night, the reflections were really impressive So pretty!

If you look carefully, you can even see the rocks at the bottom of the fjord Swirling aurora

I love the wriggly reflection of the plane!

I’ve finally gotten around to using lightroom to edit the raw images instead of the jpg’s – really impressed how much difference it makes! And now I have to run, I have a workshop in drop-photography tonight. Very excited, hope to share some results soon 🙂