Travel

[kaneohebud]

I'm leaving tomorrow on 5 weeks trip. I will be 3 days in Cambridge area. Then a 14 day cruise up Norway west coast/fjords to Arctic circle and back to Southampton. Norway stops: Stavenger, Geiranger, Hellesyt, Flaam, Trondheim, Honningsvag, Tromso, Gravdal (Lofoten Islands), Aalesun, Bergen. Then to Amsterdam for three days and four days in Copenhagen. Stops in California on both ends.

I would appreciate guidance on photo opportunities from anyone living in any of these spots. I know the weather will probably be an issue and we're prepared for lots of rain.

Thanks,

Bud

[Donald]

Can't help with the question, but I hope you have a great time.

[DanK]

I've only seen some of that, but from what I have seen, you won't be short of photo opportunities. I don't know which boat you will be taking, but we took the Hurtigruten from Trondheim (pronounced something like trund-jem) to Bergen last September. It was basically a constant stream of photo opportunities. I mention the Hurtigruten because their boats double as local freighters and therefore keep fairly close in. Even so, the only lens I had, which topped out at 70mm FF equivalent, was simply too short for the distances. If I were doing it over, I would take at least a 70-200 or something in that range.

Flam itself is just a little tourist town on the end of a fjord, but the fjord it is on is absolutely spectacular. I assume you will be taking the day tour to or from Flam, and that is just one astounding vista after another. It's quite narrow, so you won't need as long a lens.

You didn't mention Oslo, so I assume you aren't taking the Bergen-Oslo railroad from Myrdahl (the station at the top of the Flam railway) east to Oslo. If you are, watch for Finse. It is an amazing, treeless, arctic landscape, all rock, water (a big lake), and scrub vegetation, with a small town plopped down in it. You can't easily stop there--I think there are only two trains a day--but you might be able to get interesting photos from the train. You'll want to be on the right side of the train heading east.

Bergen has lousy weather but is full of interesting old architecture, not limited to the Brygge--the old port. The Brygge is full of tourists, making it hard to get good shots, but it's worth a try. If I had had a tripod, I would have used multiple shots and median blending to get more shots without people. This shot, which I posted here earlier, was from the back side of the Brygge, on a small street that very few tourists get to:



This is the old port in Trondheim:



This is taken from the Flam railroad, on the way up to Myrdahl:



This is on the fjord near Flam:



This is a shot from the Hurtigruten during a mild storm, not far north of Bergen:



Have fun!

[John 2]

Take a super wide Bud. The fjords are immense. That's an 80,000 tonne cruise liner in the distance. The near boat is the coaster that delivers supplies to the local communities. I only had a bridge camera with me. I will know better next time.



Heck, that's used up my TinyPic posting opportunity for the foreseeable future.

[rpcrowe]

Bud, have a great trip.

I hope that you have some moisture protection for your camera/lens. A pair of OPTECH Rain Sleeves always live in my photo vest or in my camera bag. However a plastic trash bag will suffice in an emergency. I used a KATA Rain Cover for a 10-day trip to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula and it worked miracles. It rained every day, although it was at the end of July and beginning of August. A Scandinavian whom I met on the trip said that it reminded him of Norway...

BTW: I generally dislike cruises but the one that I would certainly consider is the Hurtigruten. That is because they double as freighters and keep close in. Since I spent 32 years in the U.S. Navy spending most of a trip at sea with nothing but horizon to see (and photograph) leaves me flat.

[george013]

What days are you in Amsterdam? If you're August 19th there is the Prinsengracht concert. I think a beautiful event to shoot. http://www.prinsengrachtconcert.nl/ Strange enough I can't find an English version.

George

[kaneohebud]

Take a super wide Bud. The fjords are immense. That's an 80,000 tonne cruise liner in the distance. The near boat is the coaster that delivers supplies to the local communities. I only had a bridge camera with me. I will know better next time.

24mm is the widest I'll have with me. Too many stops on trip to bring my Nikon kit so I bought a Sony RX10 MKIII with a Zeiss 24-600. It takes nice photos, almost as good a Nikon but without the 32lb camera bag. If I get photos as good as this I'll be delighted.



Heck, that's used up my TinyPic posting opportunity for the foreseeable future.

[kaneohebud]

Those look great. We are taking the Flaam railway tour. I don't like cruiser ship tours either but it was the only way to cram a lot into a short time. Thanks for the feedback.

[kaneohebud]

Thanks Richard. We have Goretex from head to toe and I have a goretex rain sleeve as well. Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

[rpcrowe]

Bud,
If you are prepared for the "worst" it is often not so bad. I once visited the Hoh rain forest on Washington's Olympic Peninsula where I saw tourists who tore neck and arm holes out of black plastic trash bags to make raincoats. Now that's lack of preparedness - visiting a "rain forest" with no rain gear..

[DanK]

What days are you in Amsterdam? If you're August 19th there is the Prinsengracht concert. I think a beautiful event to shoot. http://www.prinsengrachtconcert.nl/ Strange enough I can't find an English version.

George

Sometimes google is very fussy about which languages it returns. Or, at least, I am not able to control its use of languages other than the language of the site where I am searching. Searching from the US produced lots of hits for the concert, including:

https://www.amsterdam.info/events/pr...racht-concert/

https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-an...gracht-concert

Looks like great fun.

[John 2]

In that case Bud, you will just have to take a step or two back for the wide shots. But look behind you first. The drops are bit severe.

[Cantab]

Since no one else has commented on Cambridge, I'll provide one simple piece of probably obvious advice. Once you're in the central core of Cambridge, you'll find a plethora of college buildings and scenes. There will be lots of other tourists but, since it won't be term time, there will be less chance of colliding with a bicycle than at other times during the year.

[Saorsa]

I'm leaving tomorrow on 5 weeks trip. I will be 3 days in Cambridge area. Then a 14 day cruise up Norway west coast/fjords to Arctic circle and back to Southampton. Norway stops: Stavenger, Geiranger, Hellesyt, Flaam, Trondheim, Honningsvag, Tromso, Gravdal (Lofoten Islands), Aalesun, Bergen. Then to Amsterdam for three days and four days in Copenhagen. Stops in California on both ends.

I would appreciate guidance on photo opportunities from anyone living in any of these spots. I know the weather will probably be an issue and we're prepared for lots of rain.

Thanks,

Bud

Bud, what cruise line are you travelling on? My wife and I will be on the Crown Princess in about the same time frame.

[kaneohebud]

Bud, what cruise line are you travelling on? My wife and I will be on the Crown Princess in about the same time frame.

[kaneohebud]

We're on Crown Princess leaving Southampton on 8/12.

[kaneohebud]

Thanks.

[kaneohebud]

Thanks Donald. 👍

[Saorsa]

We're on Crown Princess leaving Southampton on 8/12.

Us too. We will be leaving Monday, arriving Tuesday and staying at the Holiday Inn in Southampton until the cruise.

We don't have a specific cabin assignment yet but, let's try and meet on the ship somehow.

[kaneohebud]

Hi Brian:
We're in Dolphin deck 211. We get into Southampton Thursday by train from Cambridge. We're boarding at 12:30 Friday. Let's get together after we're settled.
Aloha, Bud


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