The first days of new year Jan 3 2017

The weather on 30 December was just awful: +8 °C and rain! That’s not at all the weather that you want to present when you expect friends from Germany who want to stay here for a week full of Scandinavian winter experiences! Even New Year’s Eve it was warm, the snow on the streets turned into wet ice that was so slippery, that it was hardly possible to move without spikes under the boots. But finally the sky cleared up, we could see bright and beautiful Northern Lights and it started to get colder.

Yesterday we went to the coast and crossed the ice to the island Storgrundet. At the outside of the island the Baltic Sea was still open with one a bit of icy slush drifting on the surface.

I’ve been at the coast quite often, it’s not very special for me even if weather and ice varies. Yesterday afternoon however we made something I never did before since I’ve lived in Skelleftehamn: We grilled sausages and stick bread over open fire. It had started snowing a bit but it wasn’t too cold with temperatures round -7 °C.

Icy coast outside of the island Storgrundet

5 cm of snow fell over night. Medi, Annika and I drove to Vitberget to enjoy the first cross country skiing in 2017 today. It was colder than the day before, between -10 °C and -15 °C. After we finished our tour it started to snow.

It’s great to be outdoors, it’s great to meet good friends, but the combination of that is just marvellous!

The last polar lights 2016 Dec 31 2016

Just a photo from the last aurora 2016, two hours before midnight of New Year’s Eve.

The aurora was quite strong, colourful and vivid for some minutes. I was really glad to watch it together with some German friends that are visiting me the week round the turn of the year. Anyway I had to take a photo – the Northern Lights already were quite weak again – for the “blog records”.

The next blog post will be published next year.

Happy new year!

Midwinter Dec 21 2016

It’s winter solstice today, the shortest day of the year. Sunrise 9:39, sunset 13:27 – that’s less than 4 hours of sunlight.

I tried to catch the sun when it stood highest, which is only 2.2 °C above horizon but clouds brought my plan to nought. Anyway, this is how it looked like two hours ago. The brightest hour of the shortest day.

From now on the days will grow longer and longer. At the same time the astronomical winter has started today. Hopefully winter will come soon, the last weeks have been much to warm and most of the early November snow has melted away.

Six month ago: Summer solstice – “night shot” in Skelleftehamn

Drifting ice on the bay Kallholmsfjärden Dec 17 2016

When I came back from Umeå this morning the sun was still below the horizon. I’m glad that the bridge over the river Skellefteälven has a parking bay. So I could take some image of today’s pre-sunrise landscape.

Much more interesting however was the view on the bay Kallholmsfjärden which is the part of the Baltic Sea that is nearest to my house. When I left Skellefteå some days before almost the whole bay was ice covered with a thin, white snow topping. Today the sheet of ice was broken and many ice floes drifted on the surface. It looks like some larger waves had broken the ice into several parallel stripes that then broke apart into smaller ice floes.

Ice floes on the Kallholmsfjärden – Rönnskär in the background

When I passed the same place two hours later to fetch a christmas parcel most of the ice was gone, probably it had drifted into open sea.

Morning at the wintry Baltic Sea Dec 13 2016

Some sunrises are more intense than others. Today I was lucky to witness a really intense and colourful sunrise in Skelleftehamn and even had the time to find a nice place.

Even the larger bays of the Baltic Sea have been frozen up within the last two days, but the open sea is still free of ice. Only at the shore the typical early-winter pancake ice floes drift on top of the tiny waves, turning and rotating. The ice seems to mirror the bright sunrise colours even more intense than the water and the snow glowed in an almost pink shade.

Four icy points of view Dec 11 2016

Another clear and cold day today with temperatures round -14 °C. This time I took the car to the coast of Fäbodarna near Burvik. The Baltic Sea was partly open, party covered with drifting pancake ice. Today I tried different approaches of taking (and editing) photos which the goal to only show water, ice, air and light.

Landscape

How to show landscape without showing anything other then the elements above. Well, I failed since I wanted the sun within the image and there were trees at the horizon. The only chance was to use a wide angle and go close to the motive to decrease the size of the forest line. (I had one foot in the water and had the camera so low, that I had to lift it up for every tiny wave rolling in.)

Architecture

I didn’t plan to make architectural photos but when I found this group of icicles I thought it looked like an old Greek temple or a portico. Again I had to lower the camera, the icicles weren’t so large.

Contrasts

Quite often I think, that I should make more black and white photographs. Today I started again. Especially when it comes to extreme contrasts I really like the reduction to black, grey and white. This type of photo however demands a bit more effort on the viewer’s side.

Abstract

Mostly I walked on different types of ice, each with it’s own structure and texture. Some where as clear as glass, others were composed of ice needles. I stood on the ice and tried to adjust the camera perpendicularly. This image became black and white as well and I increased the contrast a lot to make the textures more visible. After editing I started to see a cubistic figure in the photo. This was not intended but I guess that most people unconsciously try to see concrete things in abstract art.

Orange is the colour of the sea Dec 10 2016

Another clear and frosty morning in Skelleftehamn. I stood by the Baltic Sea in good time before sunrise which was 9:24 today. The sky was orange, the sea was blue and the mirage of the coastline lingered at the horizon.

I changed place right after sundown. Here at a more sheltered part the sea had started to freeze over. I laid down onto the icy shore to get a picture of both the island Gåsören and the crisp structures of the newly built sea ice. Then I realised that the Baltic Sea is not blue, it’s of pure orange – almost amber – at least when it’s early morning and your chin is hardly above sea level.

Photographers hints: use a tele lens, try out extreme low angle shots, dress properly due to the weather, use the warm morning or evening light ;-)

Saint Nicholas Day Dec 6 2016

Saint Nicholas Day at the Baltic Sea in Skelleftehamn

Pancake ice Dec 3 2016

Pancake ice at the Baltic coast near Kågnäsudden today.

#snowember16 – retrospect Nov 20 2016

This article is part of the series “2016-11: #snowember16”.

It was round two weeks ago, that Västerbotten, and especially Skelleftehamn got a lot of snow, more than 70 centimetres within four days. Such had happened before at least four times since I moved to this place but never so early.

Anyway, I love winter and was very happy to get it so soon. Sad to say, it was only an intermezzo. It became cold for two days the last weekend, when I tried canoeing but since then it has been quite warm and most of the precipitation came as rain that melted much of the beautiful snow away.

Two weeks ago the fence in the backyard was fully submerged in the snow, not it is completely visible again.

My backyard two weeks ago (2011-11-07 07:20)

I definitely prefer the first. Since the peak of 76 cm in my backyard thirteen days ago the snow cover become less and less deep. Today I measured 23 cm, which is less than a third of the former depth.

It is still quite warm and the global weather constellation is quite special: At the North Pole it’s 20 °C warmer than usual (and there’s full polar night!), whereas Siberia and Mongolia have witnessed an early cold wave with temperatures below -30 °C, partly below -40 °C.

How will the swedish winter 2016/17 will be? Too warm or freezing cold? Sleet and rain or masses of snow? Well, we’ll see … . What do you think?