{"id":60844,"date":"2024-12-11T07:35:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T06:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/?p=60844"},"modified":"2024-12-10T19:22:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:22:31","slug":"travel-diary-an-arctic-trip-day-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/travel-diary-an-arctic-trip-day-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel Diary: An Arctic Trip (Day 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This diary entry covers our fourth day of the trip. For details on previous days, see the \u2018Further Reading\u2019 section at the end of the article.<\/p>\n

\"YoutubeSee the video of An Arctic Trip; Day Four on YouTube<\/a>
\n\"Sample-Image-icon\"Sample images in high resolution here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the fourth day of our trip, the weather was clear and at sunrise a beautiful light fell on the snow, so I went out alone to take pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Nikon<\/p>\n

Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/8<\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main reason for changing camp and choosing this specific camp, that does not have more than five small cottages, apart from the fact that I wanted to have variety in our camps, was that this camp belonged to a Sami family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sami people, who are native to northern Sweden, Finland and Norway work mainly in forestry and reindeer farming, and this camp is set up on a reindeer farm, so one can easily and closely visit the reindeer and even walk among them and feed them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After that we moved on and went towards the next camp in a Sami village in the mountains.\u00a0<\/span>This new place was about 80 km away from our previous camp.\u00a0<\/span>But considering the roads’ winter conditions and the risk of meeting road crossing reindeer and elks, we had to drive slowly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the end of the road. This is the outpost, the last bastion of civilization before the vast, untamed wilderness of the mountains.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are about twenty families living in this village. Some of the people are retired and some of them are working in this camp, the rest of them are engaged in forestry and deer farming.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/7.1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/7.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n

This village and the adjacent lake is completely surrounded by mountains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently the lake is completely frozen and like the mountains around it is covered with snow and these reindeer are strolling around on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70\/4 S | f\/10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sky was clear that night too, and although the solar activity did not seem to be that much that day, I wanted to try to go Aurora hunting and see the aurora borealis again if possible. The weather there, which is usually the coldest place in Sweden, was too cold that night, and my companions did not leave their cabins at all. I went out alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sky was not that exciting so I waited out there in the dark about one hour. The extreme cold made tears flow down my face, but I couldn’t dry them as they instantly froze my eyelashes to icy daggers. So, my sight was not the best and my hands were almost numb despite the double pair of gloves I had and I struggled fixing the camera on the tripod as its\u00a0 legs and ballhead had become stiff and I could not fix the tripod properly. I desparately tried to hold the camera and the tripod by hand without fixing it, which wobbled precariously on the tripod. I thought that I should try another lens. Guess if it was a mistake. My numb fingers slipped as I attempted to change the lens, and with a sickening thud, it plummeted onto the icy ground. That efficiently put an end to my aurora hunting attempt that night. Of course that night’s photography wasn’t any success. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor AF-S 20\/1.8 | f\/2.2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikon
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor AF-S 20\/1.8 | f\/2.2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning at the camp reception they said, last night the temperature had been minus 25 Celsius (-13 F), no wonder I did not function properly. Only one night before our stay it had been minus 31 degrees Celsius (-24 F), they said, but the record of that month there was minus 37 degrees Celsius (-35 F). Luckily we were not there any of those nights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"YoutubeSee the video of An Arctic Trip; Day Four on YouTube<\/a>
\n\"Sample-Image-icon\"Sample images in high resolution here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gear<\/h2>\n

When I tell about the trips like this or any photography travel, a very common question is what gear do I bring with me on the journey. To answer this specific question upfront I list the gear I will take with me if I go today (what I had with me back in 2021 within parentheses).<\/p>\n

Photography:<\/h3>\n