Arctic Swallow

I always had said that Iceland was the most beautiful place I had been … until I visited Norway. Andy, Rebecca and I made our first trip in 2017 and were blown away how every turn in the road led to some more amazing view. The fjords with their mountain peaks, snow, and waves are just breathtaking. We ended our first visit by spending 2 days backcountry skiing in the Lofoton mountains, which proved to be one of the highlights of the trip. Since then we’ve trained ourselves to avoid Avalanches (as best we can), purchased backcountry ski touring equipment, and planned return trips. We returned in 2019 to do the reverse: ski 5 days and then sightsee for 2.

Our 5 days of skiing were wonderful. Andy, Amanda, Eric, our guides and I climbed some amazing mountains and had days of great skiing. The views continue to blow my mind. Unlike last trip (which had great weather), this trip had rainy/snowy weather every day. I barely took the camera out because it was so gray. Our sightseeing days were no different, with rain consuming most of the day.

I had previously seen a photo from Mike Mezuel from a beach near here that I thought was just superb. On our way to our cabin we passed by the beach and I knew I had to stop. The storm seemed as if it was breaking up and I grabbed my tripod so I could capture the wave movements with the ominous clouds. Rather than shooting ultra-wide like I normally do, I wanted to zoom in a little to make sure I didn’t make these beautiful mountain-peaks feel so teeny.

D850 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8:
21mm, f/22, 1/5 sec, ISO 31

Aaron M Written by:

Aaron Meyers is a landscape and wedding photographer living in Silicon Valley, CA. His love of the outdoors makes for frequent forays into the Californian wilds, where he delights in the stunning vistas of Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Big Sur, and the Pacific Coast.