Norway – Life Through a Lens

In collaboration with PASSIONS, VOICE OF ASIA is proud to present timeless articles from the archives, reproduced digitally for your reading pleasure. Originally published in PASSIONS Volume 50 in 2014, we present this story on Norway, as told through the lens of photojournalist Barbara Prinz.

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In this regular feature PASSIONS takes you to the most far-flung corners, exploring the magic, majesty and minute detail that the world has to offer. From people to places and vistas to soaring scenery, photojournalist Barbara Prinz captures the most breathtaking elements of landscapes that seem to exist on another planet.

Part of the Scandinavian group of countries, Norway is a place where the sun never sets – for half the year at least. One of the most northerly parts of the globe, the country enjoys 24-hour periods of daylight in the summer. It offers access to the Arctic Circle through meandering narrow highways that offer stunning views of highland plateaus, deep canyons, rough coastlines and untouched, unexplored panorama. This was the perfect place to begin the adventure.

Clean and Pristine

There is a fierce national urge in Norway for inhabitants to preserve their natural surroundings and maintain cleanliness. The purity of nature is also apparent on the country’s beautiful coastal routes, with cystal clear water in all rivers, fjords and lakes tempting the traveller to take a refreshing gulp of water in winter-fairytale environment that remains untouched and unblemished.

The city of Trondheim is Norway’s third largest, yet has an intimate and charming maritime feel, with quaint seaside houses and well-preserved historical buildings that hark back to the city’s past. This heritage is married with modern, futuristically styled buildings that show why Trondheim doubles as the capital for technology.

Mountain-Top Marvels

Bodo is a smaller city, yet just as vibrant with the hustle and bustle of daily life. From here, you can take a ferry, and enjoy the salty sea breeze and the sun shining upon deck as the mainland retreats from view. Slowly, rising out of the blue horizon, the soaring heights of your destination the Lofoten Island mountain chain protrudes into the clouds, puncturing the seemingly perfect sky with its majestic peaks.

These high, jagged mountains are the home of many nesting birds, and along the coast are fishing villages, synonymous with expert catching technique, drying fish and fish auctions. Lofoten has one of the highest positive-temperature anomalies in world. Despite lying within the Arctic Circle, factors like the Gulf Stream ensures the thermometer hovers only a couple of degrees around zero – remarkable given its location. The laid-back pace of life here among the mountains is fascinating – as are the rock formations, gradually eroded into shape by the Ice Age millions of years ago.

A Memorable Catch

As you journey to the first fishing village, you pass by a peaceful lake, and observe fish being dried utilising the cold wind in a time-honoured preservation method passed down through generations. This ‘stockfish’ production leads in to March/April, with Portuguese and Italian wholesalers among the major buyers of the dried fish, drawn by its quality and long shelf-life.

Reine, on Moskenes Island, lies on the lip of a beautiful bay, creating a picture-perfect composition with a massive mountain range backdrop framing the scene. Many towns around Norway echo this scene, providing a place to de-stress with cosy cafes and natural environs that envelop townships in serenity. Another village, Nusfjord, provides – like so many others – views of the clear waters lapping the inlets they were built around and a priceless glimpse of traditional houses and way of life.

Force Of Nature

Henningsvaer is just one stage from which to view the splendour of Mother Nature. The orange-firey ball of the midnight sun is best viewed here and is a surreal sight indeed, as it sets and then rises again the very next moment. People regularly camp along the skerry coastal area to admire this phenomenon.

Many examples of natural wonder occupy the Norwegian landscape. There are hanging bridges that precariously sway over powerful raging rapids, white water angrily churning over rock. Steely- grey mountain chains contrast with splashes of green fields and lush green coniferous forests, while tablecloth blankets of cloud in a clear blue sky envelope distant mountain-tops.

There are three main fjords making up Fjord Norway – Geiranger, Aurlandfjord and Hardangerfjord, with the way to Aurlandfjord particularly fraught with winding roads and 2-metre high snow-walls flanking the highway. Snow covered mountains tempt avid skiers, who take up the beckoning call of the slopes.

Clambering across the icy tongue of a glacier can take two, rope-assisted hours but the reward for a tough climb is the stunning view of a towering bluish tinted ice formation from which gushes clear, cold water. Cairns – landmarking piles of stones, litter the landscape, providing a marriage between man and nature.

Back to Life

The city of Bergen, formerly part of a northern trading alliance, has an iconic wharf that offers the perfect bookend to your adventure and a welcome return to civilisation. The city throngs with people and thrives with life, as opportunistic seagulls soar above while the locals gather for picnics in the park on a warm summer evening. This laid-back lifestyle continues in the terraces of the suburb of Stavanger, with charismatic local stores like a barber shop with a reindeer head proudly mounted on the wall, adding an individual flair to every street. In every direction there Giving a new meaning to extreme sports, these locals brave the elements near the Arctic Circle.are such images – from a picturesque boathouse to the detail of geranium petals – just begging to be caught on film.

The soothing wonders of nature certainly quench a thirst for the unknown, and Norway provides plenty of beauty for the eye – and the lens– to savour. There is still so much of the world to see, so until next time…