Before dawn on a winter day in Bergen, Norway.

What a beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing it with us. Congrats!!

This is an awesome pic! For once I agree with the caption - beauty in simplicity - well done!!!!

Beautifully done. Good composition, great lighting. Very simple and well thought out. The photo almost comes out of it's 2 dimensions

Great photo - the more I look at it the more it becomes less houses and more rocks/trees/forest/ancient site. The angles of the roof and the verticals in the chimneys coupled with the extra-ordinary colours create a scene that is mesmerising. Fantastic.

Wow. When I looked first at the thumbnail, I thought,"What the heck is that!" I thought it was an abstract picture like ripples with a reflection. Then wow, the full sized thing is awesome.

The only thing I can say that hasn't already been said is that I'm really glad I wasn't the neighbor of these guys who started working on their roof at that ungodly hour. Great job of turning lemons into delicious lemonade.

Now that's painting with light! I can almost feel the morning cold.

Did you plan this picture or did you just come across this scene? Which part of the picture did you take a meter reading from?

Looks to me like an image from a batman cartoon: moody, mysterious, almost surreal.

Hello Bong - this picture was not planned or arranged, it was a scene I spotted by chance. I made a spot reading from the carpenter dressed in red clothes and used auto-bracketing.

 

And thank you everyone for all the positive responses to this picture - I am overwhelmed! :-)

this photo almost seems out of an animated movie

the saturation of colour and the story it can tell

it almost has a "Mary Poppins" feel about it.10/10

Absolutely superb shot. As the camera club judges say - 'well seen'!! Looks like the set of a Spielberg movie - almost mystical.

I like this photo very much. Not only is it visually interesting, its intriguing, and that draws ones' attention continuously back to the central figures. I have to wonder what those men are doing on the roof top before dawn on a Winter morning, when the whole neighborhood is asleep.

Fantasic use of color contrast. The blues look almost impossible, but I always forget, night isn't usually black, it's just very, very dark blue. At 1/8 you must have had to time their movements as to not have the workers blur out. Fantastic photo.

I just can't belive that such a moment like the one i'm seeing it's possible to find.

 

I only have one objection about the picture and it's that It was you and not me who see the scene live, but this world is not perfet......

well, no one has criticized this picture yet, so..........neither will I. Its a great composition with a well defined center of interest. The colors are also fantastic. You say that no planning went into this shot but there must have been some. after all, you didn't just happen to be standing in the position where you took the photo from and look over and see the scene and snap the picture did you? well, maybe you did. maybe you have a bedroom window that looks out over the rooftops and you glanced out and saw this scene. I'm guessing though that you likely put some effort into finding a high spot where you could frame this interesting shot. after all, how many of us are out standing on snow covered roofs before the sun is up so that we get shots like these. instead we are sitting at the computer discussing which equipment is the best (speaking for myself here). your hard work shows in this very nice photo and it has encouraged me to get out and shoot more.

I'm don't believe in cropping images after they are taken however this would benefit from a tighter composition. The dark colors and repeating patterns of the roof tops overpower the carpenters. The snow is too blue, I believe this is more of an attribute of Velvia. In these situations I find it's beneficial to push the film, especially Velvia, you get better highlights in the snow and better contrast in the lit areas. The shorter shutter would also improve any movements in the workers, though I don't think it's a problem here.

 

In short, if it was taken at 150mm, ISO 50, 1/8. It would have been better at 200mm, ISO 125, at 1/25. I know I know, I wasn't there, I didn't take the shot, and I'm just jealous.

 

I love everything about it: colours, mood, composition is great and can say only one thing: after a while this is an really magnificant picture of the week. Congratulations!

I saw this scene from my kitchen window while having breakfast. I had nothing to do with the carpenters, it was my neighbour who had hired them to expand his house. So the situation was not arranged (by me). What I did was to grab my tripod and camera gear and go out on the balcony, which overlooked these rooftops since I was in a taller building, and grab the shot. :-)

 

Let me add something about the blue colour. The time before dawn or after sunset is actually quite blue, in particular if the sky is unclouded. If there is snow it will reflect the blue light and make it more intense. The lenght of this "blue hour" varies depending on where you are. In the tropics it is just 10 minutes or so. Here in Norway it can last for hours, in particular in winter. This far north (Bergen) winter days are short, a weak sun being over the horizon only in the middle of the day. The picture was made at 8 AM and it was still dark as sunrise was still at least one hour away.

 

Kiet, I guess it's a matter of personal taste, but I don't think the composition could be any better. You say "The dark colors and repeating

patterns of the roof tops overpower the carpenters." IMHO, that's the strength of the image. To me, this isn't a picture of the carpenters. The sea of blue is the context in which the carpenters are working, my eyes and brain need that to evoke the emotional response that this photo gives me. At first the photo seemed "non-worldly", but upon closer examination what I love about it is how real world (including the colors) it actually is.

ok, so you didn't work quite as hard at getting the image as i thought. its still an impressive photo though. i agree that cropping would do nothing to strengthen this photo--you would lose the "sense of place" if it were cropped tighter.

Kjell, how come you didn't send me this one via e-mail? I had to find out from Jørn to see this beautiful picture. Makes me wish I'm in Norway on a winter's day again. Maybe I'll get a picture of a troll on top of a roof!

 

 

The brooding dark chimneys, each shingle distinct with its share of the snow, and the carpenters suffused in the warm glow of their worklight - all contribute to a magical mystical shot. Kudos.

 

gorgeous color man -- beautiful shot

WOW...I can just hear the sound of tools ringing in the stillness of the early morning light! Great image.

It is a pleasure to view this picture

So good, it doesn't look real!!!

Good work