Polly by Jacopo

These portraits were taken during a walk in the woods a couple of weeks ago. I don't think I could ever feel comfortable on the other side of the camera, if it wasn't Jacopo taking the photographs. I really like these and think they are worth sharing, aren't they?

During and after our trip to Norway, I have been thinking about the path my photography has taken through the last several months: I have enjoyed taking portraits and meeting new people, but I have also missed the landscape. It's time to give the landscape more importance in my photographs — the way it had before I came across the Petzval lens.

Let's see where this thought will take me. For now I will try to make the most of the remaining light, before the winter comes. I hope you all had a lovely start of autumn!

Photographs by Jacopo

Camera Nikon Df
Lens Lomography Petzval 85mm f/2.2

Travel Journal — The End

We left Norway via the beautiful Skibotn route and stopped by Kilpisjärvi for a Saana pastry. I really love Finnish Lapland and I wished we had more time to enjoy the amazing autumnal landscape — ruska had already arrived there! Unfortunately though we had a long drive ahead of us and we couldn't stop as much as I wanted to. I still managed to take a few photos and I think they will be the perfect end of this travel journal!

Location Kilpisjärvi, Finnish Lapland

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Tromsø, Norway

These are from the afternoon we spent on Sommarøy island, just a 30-minute drive from Tromsø. Jacopo and I had been there before several years ago, but the weather was so miserable I didn't take a single photo. It was wonderful to be able to see those beautiful places again on such a wonderful sunny day — I felt very lucky!

Location Tromsø, Norway

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Tromsø, Norway

We spent the last couple of days of our trip in Tromsø: a very fascinating town above the Arctic Circle. The weather turned sunny and we decided to take the famous Fjellheisen — a cable car that took us on the top of Mount Storsteinen: the view from up there was absolutely amazing! I have really good memories from that day — despite being a bit sad that it was our last in Norway. These are a few photos from above.

Location Tromsø, Norway

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Vesterålen, Norway

We arrived in Vesterålen just a week after the end of the high season: that meant that we could have the fishermen villages all for ourselves, but we also had to deal with the rain and cold of the approaching autumn. I didn't take many photos that day, though I think these few are really worth sharing: the landscape was so melancholy!

Location Bø, Vesterålen

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Vesterålen, Norway

After leaving Lofoten, we spent three days in the archipelago of Vesterålen — the northernmost part of Nordland county, where we rented a beautiful farm house in the village of Bø. In the farm house we cooked delicious food, enjoyed the warmth of the fireplace and even saw the Northern Lights one evening from the porch! Sadly it rained during most of our stay in Vesterålen, but we still managed to visit some incredible places and take some photographs. These I took during an afternoon walk on the beach of Bø.

Location Bø, Vesterålen

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Lofoten, Norway

After three unforgettable days in Lofoten, we were going to continue our journey north through the archipelago of Vesterålen. Though before leaving Leknes, we spent a beautiful morning hiking. It had possibly been my favourite day of the trip: just look at the views I tried to capture with my camera and you will know why!

Location Leknes, Lofoten

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Lofoten, Norway

A part from the cats of the fishermen villages, sheep were definitely the animal we encountered the most in Norway — for that reason I was reminded about Iceland. That rainy afternoon I wanted to try and take a good portrait of a sheep, though the proper occasion for it came a few days later. On a side note, I think I have seen more rainbows during the Norway road trip than in my entire life so far!

Location Leknes, Lofoten

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Lofoten, Norway

One thing that I did not expect was to find flowers in Northern Norway at the end of August, but there they were and I found myself focusing on them more often than not. We also met a few cats around the fishermen villages: the places seem mostly deserted, except for the cats. The one in the last photo was particularly friendly — he followed us around for a long time and tried to get in our car — I almost wanted to take it with us!

Location Leknes, Lofoten

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Lofoten, Norway

We were lucky to have warm and sunny weather for the first couple of days of our trip, though when it turned to cloudy, the landscape became even more fascinating. I took these photographs the same afternoon we visited the fishermen villages near Leknes, but the mood is very different here, autumnal and very melancholy.

Location Leknes, Lofoten

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G

Travel Journal — Lofoten, Norway

Two friends of ours — Isabel and Andrea — flew to Bodø to continue the rest of the trip with us. Andrea and I went to high school together: he takes analogue photographs only, I am sure you would like to check his blog out: http://andrejrusskovskij.com

We spent our first three days at Lofoten in Leknes, where we rented a cozy fishermen cottage — rorbu in Norwegian. Below are a few photographs I took during our visits to the colourful fishermen villages of the area. I was very fascinated by the wooden racks to dry stockfish: they where framing the landscape in a very interesting way in my opinion!

Location Leknes, Lofoten

Camera Nikon Df
Lens AF-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G