Sub Zero Gallery.

Most of the pictures you see here were taken to help illustrate my web sites but I’m sometimes asked for a little more detail about how they were taken.         I thought this might be an interesting place to do that.

Taken on my 2012 trip to Norway in the Berglund area a few miles from Bardufoss.

I had been shooting the Aurora which of course needed a tripod but for this shot I used my compact with a cable switch that allowed me to set the camera to take pictures at regular intervals. the trickiest thing was balancing the exposure between the moonlight, aurora and firelight which resulted in a two second exposure. I wasn’t always aware of when the camera was shooting but as it fired every ten seconds I knew that if I sat very still for a while every now and again I would get a few shots that weren’t spoiled by movement.

A few nights before I took this shot under just the moon light with the inside of the Quinzhee illuminated by a couple of candles. The glow you can see to the left of my snow shovel is my stove, melting snow as usual for drinking water. A 30 second exposure brought out far more detail in the area behind the snow shelter and the streak of warm light in the distance is a military convoy busily on its way somewhere.

One of the major motivations for me to make the trip in 2012, come what may, was the prediction of increased solar activity as part of a long cycle. Photographing the Aurora was something I had done once before with little success and in spite of the untimely breakdown of my best camera a few days before my trip I was determined to get some better results this time.    Fortunately, a good friend loaned me a camera that was compatible with my lenses and it was his camera that I used for most of the Aurora shots.

All the above shots were exposed for 15 seconds at f4 iso.800 which after a little experimentation became my standard settings for the Northern lights.

Part of the reason I stayed in this location so many nights was the presence of a clearing, surrounded by trees that gave a good view of the dark sky in most directions.

It wasn’t all night shots of course.

The early morning light slanting through the trees was attractive but brought it’s own set of problems as the sun was accompanied by sharply rising temperatures.

This shot was taken at the very beginning of the Bushcraft Expeditions Arctic course in Norway. We were mustered in a polygonal building for our first briefing and so that people that had just flown in could sort out there gear for the first might out in the cold.

Having already been out for a week, my gear was pretty well sorted and I was watching Lennart who was shining his head torch at the kettle so that he could tell when it was boiling.

I framed it up with my compact resting on my knee and saw that it needed a 4 second exposure.

I just said “stay very still,” and fortunately everyone did. One shot and everything just worked. Sometimes you need to be a bit lucky.

I was working up in Scotland back in March 2011 so I gave myself a couple of days off to do some photography. As it happened the fresh fall of snow turned out to be a mixed blessing and I turned off my intended route because of appalling driving conditions and settled down on Rannock Moor instead.

It wasn’t quite a white out but there was certainly no point taking pictures so I thought I’d have a bit of a play in the snow.

I wanted to try making a shelter along the lines of a quinzhee with the minimum of snow possible and you can read more about that on the snow shelters page. As visibility improved, I realised there was an opportunity for a headline picture to illustrate an article on my Ravenlore site.

While digging snow for the shelter I had come across an old fireplace almost in the entrance to the shelter. Using an old roasting tray that I keep in the van for impromptu cook ups, I set this in the fireplace for the twin benefits of cooking my dinner and providing the light I would need for this shot.

Setting the camera on a tripod I made a few test shots to see how to balance the fading natural light with the illumination cast by the fire. The interval timer came in handy once again with an exposure just under 2 seconds.

The light was much better in the morning and I got this shot before Heading north towards my next location.

For more work like this you might like to look in on my Landscape photography site

Waylandscape.

Unless noted otherwise, all photography, artwork and content on this site is copyrighted. © Gary Waidson 2020 All rights reserved

The Ice Raven Project promotes sustainable and low impact bushcraft and wilderness skills in Arctic and winter conditions. This includes the use of  tents, tarps  and snow shelters where possible. Fires are only used where safe and where use and collection of firewood will not damage the natural environment. We often travel to locations by public transport and then use snowshoes, sleds, toboggans and pulks to transport our equipment into the wilderness.