Muench Photography Workshop - Day 1
January 21, 2020 - 4:16pm
Sakrisoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway
Wow. I cannot believe I am here. Today has already been such an adventure and so eye opening that I can’t imagine what the next two and a half weeks will bring. I am currently sitting on the couch in my cabin, looking out the window at the dark sky, watching the street lights glisten down on the 180 degree views of water. In the winter there is only 2-3 hours of daylight here, so it feels like night time already!
We are staying in a fishing village for the next 3 nights. Our cabins are mustard yellow. I’ve found buildings in Norway tend to only be one of three colors. Mustard Yellow, Brick Red, or Snow White. I’ve wondered why they chose those. Why the yellow? Did they just think it looked good? Or were they trying to stand out with yellow and red like McDonalds later thought? We have a deck outside our hut overlooking the water, and there are a few huts standing next to each other. There is a small living room with two love seats, a wooden coffee table, and around the corner a mini kitchen with a mini stove and mini fridge. There are two bedrooms, though you might call it a NYC 2 bedroom, meaning one is a closet. I am pretty psyched regardless because it at least means I don’t have to worry about listening to my dad snore haha!
The journey to get here was pretty wild. We had to wake up at 5:30am in Oslo to get to the airport for our flight. We met our first team leader, Randy, and he was with the rest of the group already. My dad and I have never gone on a trip with them before, but the majority of the group has. We met Kelly from Philadelphia, who was also new; Nacho from Mexico, Jim from CA, Steve and Joyce from DC, and Michelle from Dana Point. The first flight to Bodo wasn’t too bad. It was an hour and a half long and I was able to sleep for it.
The second flight to Leknes, we were warned, was a tiny plane, and given that it was over 25 mph winds, it was going to be a bumpy ride. Michelle was not okay with this, and to soften the nerves, went and chugged a glass of white wine before boarding. You can guess how that went over! It was a 15 minute ride, which started out anti-climatic, then turned into a bad movie with it feeling like the pilot had lost control of the steering wheel. One person had their face in a brown bag, and the stewardess was trying to tell everyone to “move their bodies with the plane”.
But alas, we made it, and as we walked out of the airport to put our bags in the vans, it starts hailing BB gun size pellets. We met our second guide, Cody, and drove to a market to pick up whatever snacks we’d want the next 3 days. They told us they were paying and we eagerly split up walking down the aisles grabbing items and putting them in our carts. We got smoothies, berries, apples, one bag of potato chips, another bag of potato chips, and as we were walking out I had the little voice of my mom in my head telling me to grab the bag of spinach, so I did. Thanks, Mom :)
After we got back in the car it was a little over an hour drive to where we would be staying - here in Sakrisoy. The drive was beautiful, and the water the perfect color tourquoise. The waves were breaking ominously against the shore, and one tourist was silly enough to stand close enough photographing it that he got pounded with water. Our guides knew better than to stop, and were focused on surviving the very slippery roads that at one point almost had us tipped over.
When we got to the village the weather had gotten better and we decided to quickly prep our gear to start photographing. They took us to a location nearby with red cabins and a mountain behind them and we were able to photograph them for about 10-15 minutes before it got dark. I am new to this photography trip thing and it was so cool to see how it works. The guides are experienced photographers and have a good eye (and memory) for where the good shots are. They told me where to set up my tripod, where to direct my camera, how far to zoom in, what lines I wanted to be looking for, and the light settings to test out. Very little work on my end to get a great shot! It was awesome!
Double Espresso :)
Afterward we went and got coffee next door, and then came back to rest before our dinner in an hour. I am loving this so far!! Can’t wait for what’s next.
p.s. Did I mention it’s windy?!?!
Update: For dinner we were served a Salmon shashimi starter, followed by a medium rare juicy Steak served with roasted potatoes and carrot puree, with Crème brûlée and mango sorbet for desert. Literally incredible on all fronts.
Dinner at our home base
