mlrd

These photos were taken on a small island called "Makia Petäjäsaari"* in the middle of Lake Inari in Finnish Lapland.

Barren, windy conditions and short growth season make the life hard and growth slow for the forest.

The images were taken 20.7. between 23:01 and 23:30. Gotta love exif-data

The midnight sun creates an interesting light which is not too easy to capture on film/CCD.


















*: The direct translation would be something along the lines of "Sweet Pineisland". I'm not kidding.

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enough

Wow, that's a beautiful forest, it almost seems fairy like! Nice shots and I bet the longer exposure times were a challenge. I probably would have underexposed as much as possible on purpose and then boosted the brightness and dynamic range in Photoshop to get the light right. You may have done this, but I find I underexpose stuff on purpose all the time and it's been really helpful for situations like this. That said fantastic pics!

maleficent

Not going to make a joke about the midnight sun...

That forest is beautiful, if trees could talk, imagine the stories that it could tell, what they've been thru....

Very cool.

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amonkie

Those twisted trees came out just right in your pictures. With the winds you mentioned, I was curious how big the surrounding lake is. The trees seem to be adapting quite well.

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mlrd

enough: thanks for the tips, I'll try that sometime.

amonkie: Lake Inari (Inarijärvi) is the second largest lake in Finland. Water surface area is 1071 km2 with over 3000 islands (No, I didn't know that before I looked it up for you ). Most of the lake is uninhabited although at summer there's quite a lot of fishing, mostly trolling.

Some more photos that may give you an idea of the place:

Sweet place for paddling:


A general view over the lake...


... from "Ukko", an ancient holy site and sacrificial place.


Fishing is good too...


... although it probably wasn't as nice and easy 50 years ago when fishing was an important source of income and food for the locals. An old cellar for storing fish and fishing equipment...


... and an old cabin where the fishermen and hunters lived during the fishing and hunting seasons. If only that new hut wasn't in the background .

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mystmarimatt

those first pictures of the forest were nifty!

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sailor

Man, that reminds me of Maine...

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RainbowBright

What a great old cabin - log cabins hold a special place in my heart. And those knotted trees - some of them looked as if they were about to "come to life" (not that trees aren't living but like as if they could move freely like a person and now I'm rambling)

Hash_Browns

These are all wonderful shots!! I love the 3rd pic in the woods set the best, not sure why, but it just looks inspiring!! I hope that makes sense...

Thanks for sharing them!

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