So I've completed my first edit of the Lofoten pictures I shot this March with my trusty Mamiya 7II film camera and Fuji's Velvia 50 RVP film. I was only in Lofoten for just under a week, and didn't venture outside of Reine that far, - sometimes down to Sorvagen, A and also Hamnoy by foot - because we didn't have any transport. I think that having no transport, was maybe a good thing as it allowed Vlad and myself to discover compositions and 'be there' in the thick of it.
There's a lot more to Lofoten than this small area, but I think I got a very good collection of images from staying in one central area.
I think it just goes to show that returning to the same location time and time again, can provide more possibilities, than spending a lot of time driving around. We do after all, respond to our surroundings based on what is happening with the weather and the light. I'm very aware of changes in tonality and I know I respond to what is presented to me in an emotional way at all times.
I did have some troubles though.... I'd managed to come out to Lofoten with my Mamiya 7II and managed to completely forget to pack the viewfinders for the wide angle lenses. So I felt that I was running a little blind at times and knew that the viewfinder built into the Mamiya only gives an approximation and a very rough one at that. For instance, My Lummix was able to shoot the floating raft you see in the contact sheet, and it is the equivalent of a 28mm lens, while my Mamiya 7II's 50mm and 43mm lenses are the equivalent of 25 and 21 mm respectively. Yet my viewfinder suggested that I would not be able to fit the raft into the picture. So I just had to go against what it was telling me and believe that it would be in the final shot... which it turned out to be.
I'm not entirely sure if this is a good thing, or a bad thing. Having no external viewfinders for the wide angle lenses, made me 'work harder' or 'visualise the image' more in my head, and that can only be a good thing. I'm surprised that the compositions weren't so far off what I envisaged..... maybe I don't need the external viewfinders? But I think I'll keep on using them all the same :-)
I'm very pleased with these images and now I can't wait to go back this Winter to shoot some more. I will be going in early January to shoot through the 'dark time' when there is no light and into the time when the sun becomes visible above the horizon. I feel there is a lot more to explore here and it is perhaps, only the start of my Scandinavian adventures.