Our first day of vacation this year we woke up in a cabin at Dønfoss camping. The weather was grey as we turned in the night before, and looking out the window it wasn’t any better.
The forecast however promised some sun throughout the day, so we decided to take the longer road via Geiranger on our way to my dad in Volda. The road from Strynefjellet to Geiranger has a lot of nice scenery and landscapes itself, and we stopped a few times to take it in and snap some shots.
As we reached Flydalsjuvet, I wanted to see if it was possible to get a nice shot without all the tourists in it. My wife and son went down to the viewpoint, while I headed a bit further into the woods to find a nice composition. Here I have to stop and rant a bit.
As much as I appreciate all the tourists visiting our beautiful nature, enjoying the views and providing an income for a lot of the people who live in the area, I can’t understand why one can’t show a little more respect while visiting. I had only barely stepped away from the parking lot when I almost stepped in the first pile of toilet paper and human waste. I do understand that when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. But in Norway we are expected to pick up after our dogs, so what makes anyone think that it is ok to leave human waste? It was disgusting, and I really hope that guides will do their part and tell people to be a bit more considerate of their surroundings from here onwards.
Now that I have gotten that off my chest, back to gorgeous Geiranger. I found a viewpoint where my composition would not be full of people. It did’n really matter that the light wasn’t present, I had a great time with the camera and enjoyed the view knowing how amazing it would have been with better light.
If you look closely at the images, you can see the greyish smoke from the cruise ships like a foggy blanket over the fjord. I really hope that we will find a way for the tourists to be able to visit our beautiful fjords without all the pollution soon. It’s nature that are making it worth the visit, so we have to try and preserve it right? Also worth to mention in this manner is that Geirangerfjorden is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, so it is highly important that we take extra care here right?
From Geiranger we took the ferry to Hellesylt. This ride is really nice, and I recommend it for everyone who’s visiting for the first time. Mind you; it is expensive, but it is guided all the way so you get to learn a bit more about life along the fjords.
Photographing from the ferry isn’t the easiest. It will have to be snapshots because of both the ferry moving quite fast and the fact that there are lots of other tourists to consider all the time. As it was a grey day as well, I decided to try and focus on the details of the landscape.
I would have loved to photograph some of the waterfalls with a longer exposure, but the moving ferry doesn’t allow for that. The waterfalls are impressive none the less.
The sun never made it through for more than a second, but it was nice to see the landscapes I know so well yet another time. And I know the mountains will be right there the next time we come visit as well.
