Happy Birthday My Pirate Boy

My pirate boy turned 5 on Sunday, so I've used the opportunity to take some pictures of him in his pirate costume in my mini studio. The boat that he sat on made by his sister, Regina, using a shoe-box, she added some pictures on it.

Almost Unforgotten Bali (Most beautiful moment in Indonesia)

Just came back from Bali last Thursday. I was a tiring trip, considering I took 30-hour flights to stay only for 5 days, but worth it. I had a chance to be upclose personal with a glimpse of Indonesia's almost forgotten life - Petani di sawah (translation : farmer on the rice field). The last decade, when people talk about Indonesia, first picture I had was Jakarta the Cosmopolitan.

I saw this farmer somewhere at Sidemen (eastern Bali), I was doing my small "walk" on the rice terrace and he was there, right in front of me, working on Sunday afternoon. This was typical image we had seen on Indonesian local TV station back at my Primary's years, but later on, everybody tend to forget how the rice on their plate had been produced - isn't that sad?

I had some people asked me how to make this type of picture. It's actually quite easy, first, I edit the picture with my Adobe Photoshop CS4 extended - I put the picture to almost black and white, gave a bit sepia tone on it, add the scratch and dust to give the old feeling. What make it different is actually I add an mask from my digital scrapbooking elements collection as a layer to my edited picture. It was the mask which gave the folded mark on the picture. And by the end, I just flatten the image all together. As simple as that.

Image information : I took the picture with my Canon EOS 5D mark II using Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6L USM IS

If you could only have 1 lens with you, which one will it be?

The answer certainly different from one to the other. Mine is Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM - the very one that I used during my last trip to the artic circle area. With its "big" aperture, it has helped to solve problem to take picture on the bad-light condition. I had all the liberty to take portrait, landscape even the famous northern lights with it without have to give up too much on the ISO and noise on pictures.

Here are the example :
- Portrait

 








- Landscape

- Random objects

-  AND THE FAMOUS NORTHERN LIGHTS

For more pictures you may visit my website : PyongBricole 

*_* Novita

I did the artic (again)....

Hi guys,

If you wondering where were I for sometimes, guess what, I just did the Artic (again)!
But this time, I traveled a lot lighter - only my camera (Canon EOS 5D mark II), tripod, remote control, and Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM - only lens I took with me.

I am on my way to work with pictures that I took from up north, but since I took more than 2500 shots, I hope you will understand if it takes me sometimes before I finish with them.

But for the moment, here is a  little souvenir from Bergen - HOMEMADE POSTCARD made by me with all my digital scrapbooking things that I have around my computer. I hope you'll like it.

I promise, later on, I will give you tips about "IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE 1 LENS WITH YOU" ... and of course gallery picture of my trip (when I've done with them, of course *_* )

Cheers,

Novita

Reason why I love Fisheye lens...

The reason why I like the Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens are :

1. It's compact and light weight.
With the weight of 330 grams, this lens is easy to carry around, even in your jacket's pocket, and doesn't  need any muscle works ;).

2. Don't bother to be discreet when you take your picture.
Since this lense capture angle of view of 180° horizontal degree, all you need to do just put it on a direction and do the click - click.

3. You can do upclose personal anywhere without people actually realize what are you doing :P

4. You still can shoot a very cute picture without has to deform your main subject ;)

That's all folks !!!! I hope you will love your Fisheye lens too after you read this post

*_* Novita

Images of the Turkey (BY ME *_*)

So...after my latest trip....here is a quick look of several pictures I took in Turkey

want to see more of them ?? Visit my Flickr

*_* Novita

Fafleralp and EF 28mm f1.8

It was a beautiful summer day, bright sunshine without a trace of breeze that we usually had. So we've decided to do the nature hike at the "wild side" of Valais. It took us about 2 hours drive to arrive at Lötschental area, and we continue a little bit more to arrive at the end of the valley.

The Lötschental valley is sorrounded by 3000 meter high mountains, and is the most glaciated area in the Swiss alps.

While we ventured around the trail, we met some cows who went down from the mountain. I tried to take some close-up personal picture, but since I just roaming around with my EF 28mm f1.8 on my Canon EOS 5D mark II, then I really had to be extremely close with them.

I found the EF 28mm f1.8 could be put in the category of "if I could only could live with one" lens. I serves well for the panoramic picture, and as for close-up picture, it doesn't distort the picture since it isn't too "wide" angle. I took this lens with me when I went to North Cape during the polar night last winter. The f1.8 helped a lot when I had to take some panoramic picture in the extreme low-light condition (works better than my EF 24-70mm f2.8 USM L)

I found treasures !

Searching the storage room at home, among tons of craps, I found 4 good stuffs. 4 "like new" Cokin filters including a Cokin filter holder. Those four filters are : Cokin Radial Zoom A 185, Cokin Pastel 1A 86, Cokin Pastel 2A 87, and Cokin Color Diffuser A 089.

I did some tests with those filters, just to figure out how to use them to get the optimal result, by putting the filter holder on my EF 50mm f/1.4 USM which was mounted on Canon EOS 5D mark II. Please note that I set the ISO of my camera to automatic, and I did the shots on f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8, f/5.6, f/8.0, f/11.0 and f/16.0 (except for the radial zoom, I also did it on f/22.0). After playing for a while, here are my conclusion :

Cokin Radial Zoom A 185 - certainly my least favorite filter. You really need to be so patient to move the filter on its holder until you can have a clear view of your object, and don't forget to put the aperture of your lens to minimum (on the picture below, I put the aperture to f/22.0)

Cokin Pastel 1A 86 - great for portrait. I figured out that you can use it easily at any aperture, depends on how you would like your pictures look like. Below you may find pictures that I took on f/1.4 , f/5.6, f/8.0 and f/16.0. Feel free to choose which one is you like the best ;)

Cokin Pastel 2A 87 - great for closeup. I like it best when I put it on the maximum aperture, in this case f/1.4. It has more intense "blur" compare to the Pastel 1A 86.

Last but not least is the Cokin Color Diffuser A089. It gives a beautiful color vignette around your picture. There is one area in the middle of the filter which is colorless, so basically, before taking picture, you need to move the filter on its holder and put the colorless part on the point where you want to put your focus on, otherwise, trust me, your camera will having problems in finding it's autofocus. I like it best when I took picture on f/8.0 and f/11.0. It shows more sharpness of the object and also the color on the "vignette".

Below you may find pictures I took with those diffusers on f/1.4, f/5.6, f/8.0 and f/16.0. Except for the test on Cokin Color Diffuser A089, f/1.4 , f/8.0, f/11.0 and f/16.0.

Feel free to choose which one you like the best ;)

Test on Cokin Pastel 1A 86

Test on Cokin Pastel 2A 87

Test on Cokin Color Diffuser A 089

Have fun,

Novita *_*

Save Every Precious Moment (in any lighting condition)

Many people, when they have to take pictures under an extreme-unfavorable lighting condition, they either have it too dark or too bright, then either they have to repeat taking the picture by setting the exposure correction or they lost the moment once and for all.

Here the trick that I usually do, under the condition above or even just in the time when I have to make sure all picture I take during that moment could be used, I always put the bracketing setting "ON". Please note, not all DSLR could support the bracketing mode, you may want to look at your manual book to find out how to set your camera with bracketing mode. When the lighting contrast is "bad", I normally set the bracketing from -2/3,0,+2/3 to -1,0,+1. But in case of "worse" lighting contrast, for example when you are at the dessert with very bright sun light, on the beach, etc, then you might really want to consider to put it to -2,0,+2. 

Sometimes you will find picture with "no" exposure correction turn out to be useable, but in this case, I would like to talk about, saving every precious moment, meaning, none of the picture could be failed. 

When you do the bracketing, there are couple of things to be considered.

1. Never set your ISO to automatic.

2. Set your camera to aperture value setting.

and the most imporant thing...

DON'T FORGET TO TAKE THREE PICTURES IN A ROW

otherwise, you will ruin either your current picture or the next round bracketing.

*_* good luck, and have fun............

Fêtes de Genève

I spent my whole day at Geneva. Stroll along the lake, Geneva has changed it face to something looks more like Santa Monica than any other city in Europe LOL. Lake side filled with mostly food stalls and attractions. Very unfortunately, I didn't stay for the fireworks, kiddos got knocked out before 8 PM.

This picture was taken in the middle of the crowd using my EF 24-70mm f 2.8/L USM. This is actually one of my favorite lens for this kind of event, it has a decent focal range, nice bokeh, and "wide" enough to catch up sorrounding's ambience.

Destination Monday : China

I like to travel to see other part of the world that I've never seen, but sometimes, it's good to go back to the roots, that's what exactly what I will do, I will visit the land of my ancestor, the Middle Kingdom - China. My trip will begin from the capital city, Beijing, and continue to the extreme west part of China - Urumqi, Xinjiang, continue to Kashgar, and ended up at China's cosmopolitan - Shanghai.

I've been prepared my camera bag with my "can't live without" camera - Canon EOS 5D mark II, plus some lenses like EF 15mm f1.8 (Fish eye), EF 16-35mm f2.8L USM, EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM, and EF 70-300mm DO IS USM (to reduce the weight of my backpack, I have to leave my EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM behind). And for in case of emergency, I have my G11 with me in my pocket.

For now, I am in my train from Sion to Geneve Airport. I write to you all again later on today, during my transit in Charles De Gaule (if I have time LOL), otherwise, talk to you from Beijing.

Novita

Arts of Venetian's Masks

The arts of taking pictures of Venetian's masks, is the sharpness of the eyes. Since you can't really see the real expression behind the mask, then only part of the face of the model which is communicate with your camera is his/her eyes.


But there are also other things to consider when you want to take your picture, other thing that is also take an important role is the background, make sure you don't have other "eye-catching" color at the background or objects that might be disturb your picture (such as trash can, people, etc).

Taken with my lens EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM, shutter speed 1/20, aperture 5.6, focal length 45mm, ISO 800

What to bring to Venice ??? Let's have a quick look to my luggage and camera bag ;)

So...the Carnavale di Venezia will officially begin this Saturday, 6th February 2010, and it will runs for 10 days, until 16th February 2010. So far, I've got all my travel documents ready (train tickets, ID and hotel reservations), all I need to do now is just to prepare my luggage and camera bag.

According to the weather forecast on my I-phone, for the moment, the forecase for Venice is quite friendly even it will be a bit cloudy. So for clothes, of course, I will bring my winter jacket, anyway I have to wear it from here, and couple of light-wool sweater, gloves and warm winter hat. In case of nice weather, it could be quite war during the day in Venice, you might think why should I need to carry some wool sweater, gloves and winter hat with me? The reason is because the best time to take picture of the costume is around 6 - 7.30 AM, while the tourist still fast asleep, it's time to make the San Marco the photography playground LOL.

As for my camera bag, I will certainly carry my Canon EOS 5D mark II (still haven't receive our EOS 1D mark IV hiks hiks), with the complimentary lenses 16-35mm f 2.8 L USM, 24-70mm f2.8 L USM, and 70-200mm f2.8 L IS USM. The 16-35mm will be use during my "free time" to take some picture of my landscape - when the weather is nice, Venice is a heaven to take landscape / panoramic pictures, 24-70mm I prepare myself for a bad weather, imagine if all photographers need to squeeze into the hallway around San Marco, with 70-200mm alone, I am doom!! 70-200mm, of course for the best scenario of weather condition.

Extra things to be carry for my photography activities, of course, less but not least, flash, tripod, my Mac's laptop and my new Canon Powershot G11.

So far, that's all I can think about....I promise, before I am leaving, I will explain to you, why I need the G11 guy while I already have EOS 5D mark II ;)

stay tuned !!

** NOVITA **

Canon 7D vs Canon 5D Mark II, which one is for me??

There were couple of people asking me, "which canon is for me, 5D Mark II or 7D?"


My answer is : DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU DO
First, let's put the 1D and 1Ds out of this discussion, there is no way to compare ducks to swans LOL.
Normal D-SLR for amateur, including Canon 50D, is made with fully automatic options which could permit you to take whatever picture under whatever conditions, thanks to its incorporate flash, even though the result is only "so so".
When you consider yourself as a passionate, or experienced amateur, then you can consider to upgrade your camera to Canon 7D or Canon 5D mark II, again depends on what you do, where you will find the option button will be half empty since they took out all the automatic options on it. So, before that, make sure you are comfortable to take picture with the AV, TV and/or M mode.

let's start with 7D, one of the hot stuff from Canon. From the price point of view, of course it's a lot cheaper compare to 5D mark II, but consider also, that it's not a full frame camera and it's only has 18 megapixel CMOS censor. Ok it's only has ISO 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800) for shooting from bright to dim light. But it could take up to 8 foto per seconds which is almost double compare to 5D mark II, which could only take about 3-4 pictures per seconds. It also has better auto-focus, thanks to the new technology, with 19 points of auto focus, compare to Canon 5D mark II with it's older technology of auto-focus and only with 11 points instead of 19.
On the other hand, Canon 5D Mark II is a full-frame D-SLR with 21 megapixel CMOS censor, and ISO expandable to 25,600 for shooting in the dim light.
Why I said, the camera is depends on what you do ?
When you are like my husband, Julien, who has a style in photography more like a paparazi (he loves taking snapshot on the street and moving objects like sports events, etc), then first thing he would consider when he choose a camera is "how many pictures this camera could take per seconds?" and "how good is the autofocus?" , because every seconds is precious for him. He couldn't miss any of them. For a person with this kind of style in photography, then he should consider 7D (or go straight to 1D mark IV LOL).


For me, I love taking macro and landscape pictures, then I will just go with 5D mark II (or if budget permitted, jumped right to 1Ds mark III, but I will until the mark IV LOL). My object is a steady one, means 1 or 2 seconds late won't give any different. And I am also a type of person who really "care" about the "final printing" result (I always print some of my best shot in the size of poster, 50cms x 70 cms), that's why I "care a lot" about the size of my camera's frame. As I mentioned before, my object is a steady one, or I am the one who should be steady in taking the picture, that's why, I will use the tripod most of the time, then....who cares the ISO, the lowest, the better (high ISO will only produces noise on your pictures, think about that).


By describing two different persons with two different style of photography, I hope I could give you a bit idea about which camera you should go after, or at least, you are in the 3rd category of photographer that I happened forgot to mention. If so, then just reply to this dicussion, and let's see what I could do for you to "lighten" up your way of choosing ;)



NOVITA

How to : take picture of northern lights

No one will denied the chance to take a picture of northern lights when they could have one. But to take a really nice one could be tricky somehow. Theoritically, you can take one, even if you only have a compact camera with you (of course, there is always a limit for what a compact camera could do ). Anyhow, whatever camera you have, the one that you mustn't forget to have with you is a TRIPOD (preferably a sturdy one).

If you are using a compact camera, then, accesories you will need to worry about are the tripod and extra batteries. However, if you own a D-SLR, then you will start to make a list of things you need or "might want to consider" to have with you during this photo session.
- a lens with a nice aperture (preferably wide angle (max. 28mm) with the biggest aperture possible, around 1.8-2.8)
- remote control (so you don't need to touch your camera with your shaky fingers)
- a "huge" memory card
- a sturdy tripod
- extra batteries (in the cold weather conditions, the battery will be "used up" a lot more faster)

I won't go into the details about what you should wear, but I did wear clothes like if I want to do the exploration in the heart of the antartic (4 layers of clothes, plus a super warm boots, wind stopper gloves and warm hat). But honestly, taking picture when you were on sea is a lot warmer than if you were inland, but one thing for sure, a tight pair of jeans is not recommended for this activity, unless you want to catch cold.

If you were inland, you can put your camera on the AV mode even better if you are comfortable to work manually. The problem with the AV is since your camera works based on the aperture you choose, sometimes it takes away your liberty by giving you a long-pause (30 seconds), unless you want to harm your picture with the very high ISO (above 1600 ISO which I won't recommended to do so considering the noise which will presents on the picture later on). Since the object of our picture is the northern light which is far on the sky, then manual setting will be perfect, well, it will required some works at the beginning, and after that, it's you to choose the aperture and duration, of course ISO too. We don't really need to care about the auto focus, I will say, turn off the AF on your lens, and let it works with MF instead (put it to the infinity). My aperture preferance is 11, and I'll try to keep it on 15 - 20 seconds pause. Well, some people will tell you make it to 30 seconds, but let me say this, the northern lights' dance is depends on when the winds blows, so does the intensity, so when  you put your camera on a too long-pause you might risk to lose some of the movement (if it moves to the other side), or if it disappear all of sudden. No one can guarantee how long it will appear, and how big the size could be. It's part of mother nature, no one could give a fixed order for the appearance of the northern lights.

Above is the case if you try to take picture of the northern lights inland. Most of the challange will be if you are on sea. Imagine, that not only the northern light which will move, but also you, and worse, you can't even control the speed and movement of the boat (unless you are the captain of your own LOL). But this tricky condition could be mitigate with the TV mode on your camera. Depends on the lighting on the sea, but I will say, for the best result, try to keep your ISO between 800-1600, your speed shutter at 4-5 seconds pause, as inland, put your lens to the manual focus to infinity. In land, you might have a chance to use the ISO as low as 200 since you will have snow around you to reflect the light, however, on sea, in the other way around, you could only depends on the moon lit as your light sources.

Other thing I would like to add, since we can't really predict how long the dance would last, I strongly suggest everyone no need to check on pictures they just took on their LCD too much. Why? Because you will certainly wasting your precious time and you will used up your battery life. I took all my northern lights' picture on RAW file, not because JPEG file won't give you a bad result, the problem is, when you encounter lighting problems with your picture, then RAW will serve you the best by the time of editing.

I tried to put as many information as possible on this post. However, I am sure, I missed something on the way. If you have any question, please don't hesitate to write to me - right as comment, or to my email pyongbricole@gmail.com , I am not a genius, but I will certainly try to answer your question on my best.

*_* NOVITA

Hunting The Light - Part VI ( The end)

Last day of my trip with Hurtigruten MS Polarlys. I arrived 30 minutes late than scheduled at Kirkenes, which I didn't mind at all, at least I had more time to spend on the boat.

As instructed on the paper the night before, I had dropped my luggage to the nearest elevator on my level, so I only need to carry my 16-kg camera bag, plus my all-in hobo bag with me (I was over charged with things I carried with me). Tell me I if I am stupid, but I don't care, I skipped the breakfast, which is already included to the price of my room, instead I waited at the cafetaria until the waffle was ready, of course accompanied with the super good hot chocolate, and why I said I was stupid, because I had to pay for them from my own pocket.

Arrived at Kirkenes, I found my luggage outside the port, right next to the bus stop, and no one touch or steal it (hey, I was in Norway per say LOL). I took the bus for the center of Kirkenes, to be exact for the Rica Artic hotel, and this 10-minute trip cost me NOK 25, which is less expensive than either my waffle or my hot chocolate LOL. In between this trip, I saw something that mesmerized me. According to the information I found on the boat, Kirkenes had only about 5000 habitant, which mean, not that much people for a town. But what I saw during this trip was a huge cemetary on the road side, and I bet there hundreds of tombs stone on it. I wonder if it's the victim of the alcohol, because as I heard, people at Finnmark, where Kirkenes was situated, they never drink alcohol during the winter when the sun is up, but the problem, during winter, they never had sun, or the direct translation was, they were kinda "alcoholic" per say.

I actually had another night to pass on at Kirkenes before catching my flight to go back to Zurich the next day. I went to have a walk around Kirkenes, including visited the site of the famous "snow hotel" - they haven't built the hotel yet during that time cause the weather wasn't cold enough to hold the igloo with all it's electrecity supplies, took pictures of reindeers, huskies, and even almost got tailed by some "punk" teens.

Well, that's all the adventure I could share with you from this trip. I hope to travel again sometimes soon to the place where I could experience something totally abnormal so I could share my "bonheure" (hope I spelled it correctly" with you :)

*_* Novita

Hunting The Light - Part V (Journey Up North Part II)

In this part, I will reveal two important things : my encounter with Ms. Boreale, and my favorite parts on Polarlys.

So, let's talk about Ms. Boreale first. I just finished with my dinner, I haven't even touched the dessert (how bad was that...let's my dessert wasted...darn), and we heared the announcement that "there were northern lights appear on the sky", I grabbed my camera and tripod which I carried with me to the restaurant (how freaky I was), but I left the most imporant thing behind...my jacket, but that's the detail, I ran to out to the passage on the 5th floor (the restaurant was on the 4th floor) asked everyone to excuse me if I blocked their view or stepped on their feet, took my place and started to take pictures. After sometimes, I started to shake and that's the time I realized I was taking picture in the artic circle without any jacket on me, duhhhh..............anyhow, I took about 200 pictures of it (how lucky I was, Ms. Boreale was in the good mood so she made the appearance for about 2.5 hours on and off), even though only a fraction of them I really like.

Now, about my favorite parts on Polarlys. I like the cafetaria area, because they have the best hot chocolate and waffle. Prices on the cafetaria were quite descent if you compare with the price at Tromso (don't compare with prices on your home country, then you will let yourself starving in Norway). A cup of hot chocolate for 26 NOK, and about the same for a hot waffle fresh from the maker ;)

I also love the passage on the 5th floor. I could make the tour around the boat without anything obstruct my view. What I experienced with the massive cruise ship is that, I always have to find my way to get to the place where I could take picture without anything that blocked my view, and without the marked of restricted area...ugh.

If there is anyone on the polarlys that will hate me, I think it'll be the lady on the tourist advisory desk. I kept disturb her with the question about "how's the chance for me to see Ms. Boreale tonight?" LOL...I believe she felt relieved when I left the boat.

During our stop at Honningsvag, I went out for the excursion to the Nordkapp with other passangers. It's an hour bus ride from Honningsvag to the Nordkapp, which based on Francesco Negri was the end of the world. We're quite lucky because the weather was "nice" on that day, so I still had about 10 minutes of "sunlight" to take pictures with when we arrived there.

(to be continued...)

Hunting The Lights - Part IV ( Journey Up North part I)

I took me 3 hot chocolates to encourage myself to lift my butt off the hotel's chair. If I have other choice, then I will want to stay forever in Tromso. But well, time to go...I arrived couple minutes before my ride hit the pier, so I had enough time to take some close-up of her.

Isn't she is a beauty???

This time, I will ride on Hurtigruten MS Polarlys. In term of size, this is the smallest "passanger boat" I ever took in my life, but have someone already told you about "small is beautiful", so does Polarlys. This is the cutest passanger boat (they called it postal boat in Norway) I've ever seen. It's so cute, it took me about 30 minutes to explore the all levels of this boats LOL.

Polarlys is a descent size of passanger boat. It has a nice size restaurant, bar, panoramic bar and a 24 hours cafetaria. Don't try to compare it with any "leisure cruise ships" because they are just incomparable. I should say, even for me, the size of the bedroom is small, something around 3 meters x 2 meters, with a very standard amenities, and in this case, I am not trying to describe on details about the size of the bathroom in that size of room, you guess it ;) But again, since this is the most challenging part of this journey, put behind all the luxury and try to enjoy yourself with the basic. The restaurant, even it's small, but it served great foods in small portion, but again, it's one of those delicious foods you will find on those 5 stars gourmet restaurants. I will tell you in detail about my favorite parts of the boat next time, for the moment, I will just go through the list of facilities they have. Ok, so, they have a tiny sauna, a limited playing room for children, a 3-computer internet "cafe", a small but packed souvenir shop, and a travel advisory center. There were also 2 mail boxes on the ship, one in front of the souvenir shop, and the other one on the receptionist area. If you drop your mail on the one at the souvenir shop, then your mail will have the post mark of the boat. If you drop it to the one at the receptionist area, then your mail will have the post mark of the next stop of the boat from the local postal office, depends on when you drop your mail. But if you want your mail marked with the post mark of Nordkapp, then you have to carry your mail all by yourself to the Nordkapp, and drop it into one of those famous red mail box at the Nordkapp Hall.

(to be continued...)

Hunting The Light - Part III (I was doomed)

My main reason to go to Northern Norway in the winter was simply to take picture of the northern light a.k.a Aurora Boréale. I had contacted couple of people who could provides me with the "Chasing the Northern Light" tour, bought all equipments I might need during that "chasing" part, and worse, got super excited with what I will see based on the story I read on blogs and internet.

When the day of my "chasing mother nature" activity arrived, I got a bit jumpy, typical highschool student who will got her first-time date LOL. First bad sign, the sky was covered :( Even though it was "dark" all day, I still could tell when it's a clear or cloudy sky in Tromso (for this, I felt I was cool enough LOL), second sign, the guy who should gave me a company, Gorran, he couldn't show up, so he replaced by his friend, Ygor. When we started to drive and stopped in the middle of nowhere, I felt the gust of the wind around me wasn't typical what Ms. Aurora Boréale would like best, it's too gusty. But Ygor told us, no worry, he was contacting his friends, and they found some clearing spots somewhere around the E6. Then we drove again, but I started feel suspicious with what I will achieved that night. Couple hours later, he told us, we almost reached the border with Finland, so he though there were no use for us to continue, and that's the end of the super adventure for "chasing the northern light", FREAK!

(to be continued...)

Hunting The Light - Part II (Felt in Love with Tromso)

Look at that picture, and tell me how not to falling in love with such a beautiful scenery.

Only thing that bothered me on the first day was, I felt either I was sleeping too long, or I didn't sleep at all. When I had my breakfast, I felt like I am ready to go to bed again, the sky was so dark outside LOL. Otherwise, it's all good.

It's not that difficult to not get lost in Tromso since there were only couple of main streets and other road that links you back to the main street. But be careful when you have to take the bus to the Artic Cathedral. I took bus no.24 from the square near the fish market since I wasn't in the mood to cross the bridge on foot. Basically, I should only took the bus to cross the bridge, and got off on the first stop. But the first stop, which is not too far from the Artic Cathedral was not so "touristic", so I was naively thought there must be another "touristic" stop which will be right on the door step of it. Wrong! I dragged myself to the "rural" of Tromso and I started to get panic, got lost on the day wasn't a big deal for me. I was born with a "built-in" GPS on me, which means, unless I got drunk, otherwise I won't get lost that easily. But lost in the "not-so" daylight time, that scared me out. I was lucky, I was in Norway, where the nicest people on earth living. So, the bus driver was so kindly stopped another bus with opposite direction, and let them know where I was heading too.

(to be continued...)