Lofoten was an unknown name and location to me before I saw this image on the internet many years ago. I was instinctively captivated by the red houses placed in front of a uniquely shaped mountain. With the surrounding mountains and waters, the whole scenery looked like something from an artist’s painting. I had dreamt of visiting this place and capturing the image with my own camera. It was a breathtaking moment when I finally stood on the bridge and saw it in real life. It is no wonder that this is an iconic landmark and photographic honeypot in Lofoten.
Words cannot describe the extraordinary beauty when the conditions and lighting came together on this morning. As usual, the crowd was already there when our group arrived. I could only find an empty spot towards the end of the bridge. I was a little disappointed at first because I thought the best spot was towards the middle of the bridge. But there was no place to squeeze in because everyone was standing tightly close to each other. Excitement began as the blue hour transitioned into the golden hour when all the shutters began to go off. A few days prior, there had been some rain, which melted the majority of the snow. My vision was to capture this with some snow on the mountains and rooftops to give it a more fairy-tale look. I was worried that this might turn out too bare without much snow. But miraculously, the sky suddenly began to snow for only 10-15 minutes during the peak lighting, just enough to land on the rooftops and rocks like sprinkling powder. I couldn’t believe my luck as my wish was unfolding in front of my eyes! I was screaming, “Oh my god!” and quickly grabbed all the shots that I could. I was thinking, “Could Mother Nature hear my thoughts?!” Either way, I consider this to be a miraculous moment.
I was completely satisfied with what I had witnessed and captured that morning. But what made it surprisingly fascinating was when I was processing the image, I realized there were some strong leading lines found in parts of the image that made the iconic mountain even more significant. I saw the leading lines from the colorful clouds on the left and right. Then the houses formed another leading line to the main subject because of the angle at which I was standing. All the lines were pointing to one thing: the iconic mountain. I was thinking, arriving late actually led me to the discovery of this leading line that I had not noticed before. They have harmoniously balanced out in a dynamic composition under the right conditions.
