Looking toward the western sky you see a break in the clouds forming near the horizon and your excitement begins to take hold. You try, if you’ll pardon the expression, to curb your enthusiasm – after all clouds break and reform – but its difficult to do. And thats because, if the sun were to actually appear at this particular time, you have that one thing you desire above all else – a roiling black, stormy sky behind your subject.

Bronica GS-1, 50 mm lens @ F16 on Velvia

Storm Light is of course dependent on weather systems that move through the designated subject area, and weather systems are largely made of clouds. And these clouds, while necessary to the process, are a double edged sword as they bring both happiness and misery. So heres some tips to help you if you decide to chase the Storm Light.

#1 The leading and trailing edges of the weather system will bring the most joy to the photographer. Many times an oncoming weather system will push cirrus clouds in front of it. I call the leading edge of the storm, “Cirrus Cloud Day” and consider it one of my favorite times to be alive. If theres a storm coming, I always try to “get out in front of it”, to catch the leading edge.

#2 After the leading edge blows your mind with the Amazing Cirrus Show,  the storm proper will roar in like a lion. And of course the actual storm is the opposite edge of the sword, because we know that storms often bring complete overcast, as well as inhibiting travel. If the (extremely rare) Storm Light is the Doors, the rest of your time tends be more like Leonard Cohen singing to Yanni. It can get a wee bit depressing.

Overcast and rain on location can seem eternally mind numbing as the hours turn into more hours. And although complete overcast and rain might be the overall trends, there are exceptions that can be notable. Breaks in fast moving clouds can cause light to sweep dramatically across the land. And of course, if you’re not there, then you can’t play.

Use your technology, if you have signal, to watch the clouds move real time. When applicable, our tech can let us know when and where breaks in the cloud will happen, allowing us to either position ourselves appropriately or go to the bar, knowing the shut out is secure.

#3 Many times, our location is remote enough that there is no signal and even worse, no bar. So “keep your head in the game”, as one of the worst things that can happen is for your storm light to start going off while you have your head in a book (reading or writing) or even worse, while asleep. Use this time to find possible shots and comps, so when your big break in the clouds happens, you can capitalize.

#4 Lose the idea of the “golden hour”. Storm Light can happen at any time in the day

#5 While the Leading Edge of the storm is more fun, I usually find the Trailing Edge to be more profitable. With any kind of luck the horizon clears while pushing a storm in front of it and you will have the Holy Grail, light and a storm. Because of this combination, I find that rainbows happen most often with the trailing edge.

And finally, theres the “Day After” bonus, and that is the puffy white clouds that often fill the sky in the wake of the storm.

All in all, chasing Storm Light can be hit or miss. And there are a whole lot of misses, make no mistake. But as the public displays less trust in what we do I feel the need to make images that are more tied to the moment of capture, and so I find myself out standing in the rain waiting, hoping to feel that bass well up and move me just one more time.

1)  Choose the Right Workshop.  I know this may sound obvious but here’s what I mean.  Don’t make your workshop choice based solely on the location.  Of course the location is critically important but I would argue that more important are the instructors that you’ll be working with.  It’s important to find a workshop being led by photographers whose work you greatly admire and frankly would like to emulate, whose personalities are fun and engaging and who has experience guiding and/or teaching groups of people.  You’ll be spending a lot of time in the company of your workshop leader(s) and if they are not fun and engaging it can make for a miserable experience.  Most professional photographers and workshop leaders have blogs (and if they don’t that should be a red flag), which will no doubt shed some light on their personality and approach to photography, life and teaching.  You should also ask for referrals, read them and perhaps even get in touch with some folks that have attended their programs in the past.  The bottom line is you want to have fun while at the same time benefitting from a “behind the scenes” view of how an admired photographer works.

Another important aspect of choosing the right workshop is it’s focus.  Is it more of a tour, tourshop or workshop?  Is it geared for beginners, intermediate or aspiring pros?  And don’t forget to investigate the itinerary, how early is sunrise and will you be able to sustain that many early mornings and how much physical strength and endurance is required to get to locations.  These are all important considerations if you are to get the most out of the experience and enjoy the process.

2)  Shadow the Instructors in the Field.  Again, this one seems pretty obvious but I can’t tell you how many workshop participants take off away from the group in hopes of discovering some great little gem of a shot that no one else will have, or perhaps to find a bit of solitude.  This is of course an admirable approach toward image making however, it puts you at a distinct disadvantage for getting the most out of your workshop experience.  Remember you’re there to learn from a master photographer and if you’re not with said master photographer you won’t maximize your learning opportunities.  There will be plenty of time to strike out on your own but during the workshop it’s advantageous to be near the instructor, learn how they see, how they set up compositions, handle tricky light, work with filters, etc.  If you want photographic solitude then I would suggest saving your money or hiring an instructor for a one on one experience, but you shouldn’t take a group photo workshop.

3)  Ask Tons of Questions.  This one goes hand in hand with the previous tip.  There are no stupid questions on a photo workshop.  Everyone there will be at a slightly different point on the learning curve and chances are if you’ve got a question about something so does someone else.  As an educator with over 20 years of experience teaching and leading groups let me assure you that for better or worse the squeaky wheel usually gets the grease.  People that advocate for themselves by asking questions, initiating dialogue and seeking guidance always get the most out of an educational experience.

4)  Connect with the Group.  Group workshops can be a lot of fun and lead to some great opportunities for long-term friendships and connections with other like minded people.  Let’s face it most of us have friends and significant others that aren’t photographers and most of them think we’re nuts.  Workshops can be a great chance for you to meet and develop friendships with other nuts.  This won’t happen however, if you don’t get involved.  My advice is to jump into a carpool and have meals with some of the other participants.  It’s a great way to develop new relationships.  In fact, on our Olympic workshop there were two folks (and a third that couldn’t attend) that met on a previous workshop and were having a reunion of sorts during this one.  Additionally, there were two others that teamed up to share hotel and car expenses after meeting on my Autumn in Vermont Tour last year.

5)  Share Images During Critique and/or Post Processing Sessions.  Many of us are shy and insecure when it comes to sharing our work.  This is a natural emotion but one that you need to fight if you hope to grow as an artist.  Whenever the opportunity arises I encourage you to participate in the critique process, not only when others are sharing but by sharing your work.  It’s also a natural tendency to show your “best” work during these public critique sessions but the how much are you going to learn by hearing a bunch of “atta boys” or “you go girls?”  Share some images that you’re on the fence about in order to get the perspective of the instructor.  It may confirm your suspicions that it’s not a great image but you never know, you might be missing a real gem.

Here’s one of my favorites from the last night of our workshop.  It’s from Ruby Beach a little before sunset.  What made the experience all the more fun was the gaggle of workshop participants that were all eagerly working on similar compositions and collectively enjoying a splendid evening on a wild pacific beach.

Technical Details:  Canon 5DIII, EF 16-35L f2.8, f11 @ ¼ sec. ISO 100, two exposures blended for dynamic range

MELVILLE, N.Y., May 14, 2013 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced a dynamic new super-telephoto zoom lens, the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x. Designed for use with all Canon EOS Digital SLR cameras, the new L-series lens has an integrated 1.4x focal length extender and high-performance Image Stabilization technology, offering exceptional shooting flexibility and range, ideal for sports or wildlife photography.

The new EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x zoom lens features an optically matched built-in 1.4x extender that increases the maximum focal length to 560mm, simultaneously preserving image quality and enabling the seamless capture of distant, moving subjects. With a simple switch, photographers can easily increase zoom range, which is extremely useful when it’s difficult to change lenses quickly, and helps protect delicate equipment like a DSLR camera’s image sensor in environments with dust, high humidity or other extreme environmental factors.

Peter Read Miller, an award-winning sports photographer and Canon Explorer of Light, recently used the new lens while shooting various worldwide sporting competitions.

“I had the opportunity recently to use Canon’s new 200-400 lens at a number of sporting events,” said Miller. “I found it to be incredibly versatile, replacing several different prime lenses that I would usually carry. The zoom allows me to control my framing; the autofocus has speed equal to or faster than most fixed focal length telephoto lenses and the ability to engage the 1.4 extender without taking my eye away from the camera is a unique feature not found in any other telephoto lens available today.”

To help deliver beautiful, soft, image backgrounds, the lens features a 9-blade circular aperture. The lens also utilizes inner focusing, ring USM, a high-speed CPU and optimized AF algorithms for fast and accurate autofocusing. Quiet and smooth focus shifts – essential for filmmaking – are made possible with Canon’s Power Focus mode.

Using advanced optical materials such as fluorite crystal and UD glass, the new lens provides excellent correction of chromatic aberration throughout the entire zoom range, and delivers high-quality images with high levels of resolution, color fidelity and contrast. With three image stabilization modes, (standard, panning, and during exposure only) and stabilization effective up to four shutter speed steps, the new EF 200-400mm lens provides excellent results for a wide range of subjects and shooting scenarios. The new lens also includes dust- and water-resistant construction designed for extended usage under harsh conditions.

“The EF 200-400 along with the Canon EOS-1D X camera body is my new ‘go-to’ combination for shooting sports,” concluded Miller.

The EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x zoom lens is expected to be available at the end of May for an estimated retail price of $11,799.00.

For more information about Canon’s new EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x lens, and a full list of product specifications, visit www.usa.canon.com.

With so many other photographers in the area, simply going out and taking photographs can sometimes be a challenge. It is often difficult for me to compose and make my own images when I have seen the images that many other photographers have produced from the same exact places. On top of that, if I head out to photograph during the weekend, and during “peak conditions” for whatever my subject matter may be, I find myself struggling to find solitude among the masses of photographers who are out looking for the same thing. I do not, by any means, claim to be some extraordinary or visionary artist, but I am trying to move forward with my art and craft – and in the Pacific Northwest, it can be a bit challenging to do that at times. Anyhow, I don’t mean to complain. Despite all of this, I still love it here. It is easy to get hung up on these thoughts, and I will write more in-depth about them in a future blog post.

When photographing a beautiful place such as the Rowena Crest, it is easy to get sucked in to the machine, easy to be one of the many photographers jockeying for a spot at sunrise or sunset, all trying to make the same image as one another (one you can easily find if you simply Google search for ‘Rowena Crest’). On this particular evening last month, I challenged myself not to be one of them. The Rowena Crest is an incredibly beautiful place, and one could make an amazing photograph from the areas near the parking lot where everybody likes to photograph, but I hiked just a few miles in the other direction, and found this beautiful scene. Obvious scenes are obvious for a reason, but there is just as much beauty that can be found elsewhere, as long as one actually looks for it. I don’t claim to be above the influence of work created by other photographers, nor do I claim to abstain from often pursuing those similar shots. I simply see great value in looking past that, and in trying to do my own thing – even if it is just to a small extent. I do not feel as if the photograph below is particularly unique in any way. But, it is my own. It is mine. I made it, and I am very happy about that.

These are questions I wrestle with all the time. I suspect many of you do too. Maybe some of you don’t wrestle with these questions at all, deeming them irrelevant. Perhaps they are—but not to me.

These questions do not have easy answers, and everyone needs to decide for themselves what is right or wrong. But—and this is an important but—I offer this food for thought. If the magic of your image is primarily the result of what happened before your eyes (and was subsequently captured by your camera), then you have created a photograph. If, on the other hand, the magic is primarily the result of what you’ve done on the computer, then it is arguably not a photograph any more—at least not entirely. Call it “photo art,” “digital art,” “computer art,” or some other name—but in the end you have produced some sort of mixed media creation. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but I think it is important to be honest about what one is doing, and to make a conscious decision as to the path one wishes to take.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying you need to stay 100% faithful to the raw file in order to be called a photographer. Raw files are, by their very nature, well . . . raw. They lack contrast and color saturation, and no one has ever claimed that a raw file is an accurate representation of reality. Your raw files will typically need some work to reveal the magic seen by your eyes, and accordingly the digital darkroom has become a critical part of the photographic process (as my Photoshop video tutorials attest). But when you start adding magic on the computer that wasn’t perceived by the eye when in the field, at some point you cross over that ephemeral, inchoate line which separates photography from the vast sea of ”something else.”

Granted, this digital art “red line” is a little fuzzy for a lot of stuff you might wish to do—if indeed, it could even be characterized as a line at all. When, for example, does pushing contrast and color saturation go too far? Certainly, color slide film captured a vibrant and colorful variation of reality, and it was the staple of nature photography for decades. And what about blending multiple exposures for dynamic range or depth of field? Personally, I see these as merely sidestepping technical limitations, achieving digitally what might have been accomplished in the past with graduated neutral density filters and tilt-shift lenses. But then again, other things seem to be an obvious departure from the traditional art of photography—such as adding a great sunset sky taken a year ago to a lackluster image taken yesterday, and then throwing in that rainbow from last month for good measure. It is kind of like Supreme Court Justice Stewart’s famous definition of pornography: we may not be able to precisely define when someone has crossed over from photography into computer art, but we know it when we see it.

These days, the Internet is awash with digital creations that began as photographs, but have been assembled, combined, twisted, and altered on the computer past all recognition as such. I’ve been practicing photography and Photoshop for a long time, and I can spot a lot of these digital darkroom tricks a mile away. Yet in almost every single case, this stuff gets presented to the world as “photography,” and no one seems to notice the difference—or for that matter, to even care.

Is this wrong? Beats me. I just know that I much prefer taking photographs over making digital art. And I believe that photography’s magic arises from its unusual connection with reality, which is a result of how a photograph is made—a chemical emulsion or digital sensor array reacts to light emitted from or reflected off of real world objects, and a “copy” of this light is recorded by the photographic process. It is not a perfect copy, but it is pretty darn close. One way to look at it is that a photograph is an eternal mirror, freezing a fleeting moment—a real moment—forever.

Famous French photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue said it best: “Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true.” This is something which photography, of all art forms, is perfectly and uniquely suited to do. This connection with reality gives photography its power. People respond to a photograph, in part, because they think it is real—making their response to a photograph different than, for example, to a painting. And I believe this is something we should not cast aside lightly just so we can dazzle our Facebook followers.

So, do I have a definitive answer to this vexing question about whether any of this matters? As usual, I prefer not to tell people what to think, but rather to give them something to think about. So here’s an observation, one that ends the debate for me personally. Capturing the reality of the moment matters because experiencing the moment is what it is all about. Maintaining a photograph’s tether to reality is important to me, because I do this (that is, photography) to experience those magical moments for myself, and to preserve those moments in order to share them with others. Because at the end of the day, for me, staying faithful to the truth of the moment is more important than keeping up with the Photoshop Wonderboys.

To live in the moment, to experience the grand mysteries of Earth, and to witness the rare transformation of the mundane into the sublime—to me, this is what photography is all about. The pinnacle of the art form is to patiently wait for random forces to temporarily assemble into something meaningful and beautiful, before spinning along on their merry way. This is what Henri Cartier-Bresson famously called the “decisive moment”—a moment which is decisive for the subject, but most of all, decisive for the artist. If you rely on Photoshop to make your magic, you may produce something beautiful, but you rob yourself of experiencing those special moments when it all truly does come together. And that is something worth considering.

It may be hard to cling to analog thinking in our fancy, splashy, and seductive digital world. I’ve felt the pressure as much as anyone else, and I find myself pushing the Photoshop sliders a little bit more than I did in the old days. But I’d much prefer to keep my art rooted in the “traditional” photographic craft as much as possible, rather than rely on the cheap and easy thrills of digital darkroom wizardry. To me, witnessing a real moment, when the sky lights up red over towering walls of granite, perfectly reflected in a serene pool of water (such as with the image below)—this is why I do this, and I wouldn’t trade such moments for all of the fake Photoshopped skies in the world.

About the image: “Eternal Mirror”—Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia, Chile. Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital Camera, Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD Lens for Canon Cameras, polarizer filter, 3-stop neutral density filter, ISO 100, f/11, 30 seconds. Click on the image above to see a larger version.

P.S. Join me on my 2014 Ultimate Patagonia Photo Tour for the photo adventure of a lifetime! Spaces are filling up fast so don’t delay.

Canham DLC 45, 6X9 rollfilm back; 450mm Fujinon @ F45; 8 seconds on Velvia

This was something I had been watching for about 3 days when the fog decided to reappear, so I ran right to the spot, which just happened to be right on the side of Highway 101. Of course fog very often means rain, and those were the conditions…a steady rainfall, definitely more than a drizzle. I needed some long glass, and the longest I had was the 450mm Fujinon C with a 6X9 rollfilm Back. The Fujinon C is a non telephoto lens, so the 4X5 was extended some  18 inches, making the camera into a gigantic sail. I had to hold the unbrella with one hand, and operate the movement of the 4X5 with the other.  I found it to be not impossible, and I worked through it without too many issues.

The real problem was the shutter speed necessary to keep the DOF. F45 would keep the rhodies sharp, but nothing else. It was my minimum aperture, and it required 8 seconds of exposure. Now, there was not really too much wind, but I was foiled again and again by big raindrops falling from the higher trees. I would hit the shutter and start counting….one thousand one, one thousand two… and somewhere before I got to eight, a big drop would hit the rhodies from above and the whole thing would tremble violently. So I would advance the film and try again.

That wasn’t the only issue. Standing on the side of Highway 101, the semis would come blowing by and blast the entire scene with wind and spray. So when a truck would come, I would have to turn the umbrella sideways to protect the camera from the spray, albeit leaving the top of the camera exposed to actual rain. Expoosures had to be timed between trucks. Maybe the single most frustrating shoot of my life.

I worked this single shot for over 2 hours. the fallout:

10 rolls 220 Velvia exposed for a total of 180 frames

my spotmeter quit because of the soaking, never to be revived

rain got between my fresnel and the groundglass, rendering it blank (couldn’t see through it), requiring disassembly to dry it out

of those 180 frames, 2 were usable… Ahhh, PRICELESS  (it better be for what it cost me)

Canham 45 DLC, 90mm F5.6 Nikkor @ F22, 2 seconds on Velvia

Canham 45 DLC, 150mm F5.6 Nikkor @ F22 at one second on Velvia

Bronica GS-1, 65mm lens @ F8 on Velvia

This image, taken in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia, was made at twilight during a cloudy evening. I wouldn’t have taken the shot if it were merely uniform overcast, but since the clouds had distinct texture, I knew that during a long exposure they would streak across the image frame—and since the clouds were heading towards me, they would appear to radiate diagonally. Still conditions allowed me to capture a near-perfect reflection of the scene in Lago Pehoé. I used a three-stop neutral density filter to achieve a two-minute exposure.

About the image: “The Blue Hour”—Lago Pehoé, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital Camera, Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD Lens for Canon Cameras, ISO 200, f/16, 2 minutes.

1. “Sam at the Cascades”—Rio de las Vueltas, Argentina

For the image above, I decided to include one of my workshop clients in the composition—Sam, who was busy making some images of his own. I was immediately attracted to the curving trees arcing over the scene. So, instead of moving closer to the water’s edge in an effort to focus my composition on the waterfall, I pulled back and focused on the shapes and forms created by the trees, which framed Sam perfectly. At first, I was tempted to wait until Sam was done, but then I realized he made a perfect addition to the scene. He creates a strong focal point, which balances against the visual energy (formed by the trees and the motion of the stream) which otherwise pulls the eye to the right.

2. “Hiker Below Fitz Roy”—Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

For this shot of Fitz Roy, I waited for a moment when a hiker ambled to the shore of Laguna de Los Tres. I first photographed him looking into the scene, but I felt that I needed something different to balance the composition. When he looked down and to the left, checking his footing before jumping off the large boulder he was standing on, I knew I had the right pose to complete the shot. His line of sight creates compositional energy pointing towards the lower left corner of the image, which is necessary to balance against the looming eye-catchiness of Fitz Roy, dominating the upper third of the image. The hiker is also balanced by the shadows in the lower right. By photographing the hiker looking out of the scene, rather than in, his visual prominence is enhanced, allowing him to visually compete with the much larger mountain in the background. I talk more about the merits of “looking in vs. looking out” in my eBook Visual Flow: Mastering the Art of Composition.

3. “On Belay”—Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

I made this image one day while exploring the Grande Glacier below Cerro Torre with my guide. He took me out on some giant seracs, which are essentially house-sized blocks of ice formed as a glacier splits into a crisscross pattern of crevasses. At one point we decided to rappel down one side of a serac. After securing a few ice screws, my guide lowered me by rope to the bottom. Before heading down, I secured my camera strap around me neck, as I sensed a good photo opportunity. On the way down, I asked him to stop lowering me. As I dangled from the rope, twenty feet above the ground, I quickly composed a wide-angle shot, using the rope as a line leading straight to my guide. Lucky for me, the sun was behind the serac just below where my guide was standing. This meant that he was surrounded by an eye-catching halo of light. Bright areas automatically attract the viewer’s attention, so by placing the brightest part of the scene right behind my guide, he automatically became the main focal point of the image. Once again, I discuss the “halo effect” in more detail in Visual Flow.

4. “Jumping For Joy”—Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Okay, this was me having a little bit of fun with my workshop group. By zooming in with a telephoto lens, I was able to “compress” the perspective of this scene. I asked Richard, my workshop co-leader, and a few of my clients to jump in the air after a fantastic morning shoot. The result is rather amusing, in large part because only Richard managed to get some air!

5. “Glorious Morning”—Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

I shared this photo in a previous post, but didn’t talk about the story behind the image. After photographing sunrise on Fitz Roy at Laguna de Los Tres, I was walking around looking for some new angles. A young Japanese hiker approached me and asked if I could take his picture with his camera. I obliged, and then asked in return if he would pose for me. I asked him to jump up on a boulder he had been standing on when I arrived, and directed him into the classic (clichéd) “King of the World” pose. I think this would make a very nice magazine cover (Chris Robinson at Outdoor Photographer, this hint is for you . . .).

Adding a human element to your nature photos can open new artistic opportunities, and can be fun as well. So next time you are impatiently waiting for some tourist to walk out of your shot, consider instead some creative ways to use the human presence to your advantage.

P.S. I’ll be returning next March to lead my Ultimate Patagonia Photo Tour. We’re already beginning to receive registrations, so don’t delay—sign up now!

My name is Alex Mody, and I live in Olympia, Washington. Contrary to what Ian said, I am not evil, nor am I anywhere near as well-versed in the ways of immature humor as he is. I suppose I am pretty young, and maybe I am hairier than most, but even then, those certainly are not the first words I would use to describe myself. Thanks, Ian… Anyhow, I am a 22 year-old nature photographer and student at The Evergreen State College. I love tacos, learning, things that smell good, punk/metal music, dogs, and fine ales. I photograph the mountains, coastlines, streams, and forests of the Pacific Northwest more often than anything else. It is really great living and photographing here (which is why I moved here from Washington, DC a few years back) and a majority of the images I share on the Dreamscapes Blog will be from this general locale. Here are a few photos that I think serve as a fair example of my work.

Triple Falls at Sunset, Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

Nikon D3x, 16mm, f/14, exp. of 1 sec/0.3sec, ISO 200, polarizer

Wahclella, Tanner Creek, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon, USA

Nikon D800, 16mm, f/13, 0.6sec, ISO 100, polarizer

Frosted Aspens, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah, USA

Nikon D300, 140mm, f/20, 0.3sec, ISO 100, polarizer

Embrace, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon, USA

Nikon D3x, 16mm, f/16, 1.3sec, ISO 200, polarizer

Sunset Spires, Smith Rock State Park, Terrebonne, Oregon, USA

Nikon D800, 18mm, f/16, 0.5sec, ISO 200, polarizer

Thanks for looking!

The location for this workshop was Ramsvikslandet in Bohuslän which is part of the Swedish west coast. I have lived in this area for eight years so it almost feels like a second home to me.

A while ago CNN published a list of 10 of the world’s last great wilderness areas and I was very happy to see that Bohuslän ended up on this list. It´s quite amazing that a part of Sweden is equal to Tasmania, Jordan and Bolivia. This is how CNN describes Bohuslän:

“The Bohuslän coast, West Sweden
If you’ve ever fantasized about gliding silently through the water on a kayak, camping on deserted beaches, enjoying the midnight sun, spotting seals and soaking up the spirit of the sea, you’ll find no shortage of experiences here.
This sublime stretch of coastline extends to the border with Norway and is dotted with an archipelago of some 8,000 islands and islets.”

I thought I would show you some of my photos from this wonderful part of Sweden since I have spent countless of hours in this great wilderness area.