Norway. A study in light. In the North, above the arctic circle, the land is caught between the total darkness of winter, and the perpetual light of summer. As the earth tilts up and down, the country appear in motion as each passing day finds the sun at a different time and place in the sky. Fjords and mountains provide perfect vertical backdrops so that each day the angles of light alter the subtleties of this scenery.

Daylight seems to constantly change the perspective of the terrain as it teases out the colors of the raw mountain scape. When the moon is set, the full spectrum of light waves in our solar system energizing the atmosphere with electromagnetic energy in the moving artwork of the Aurora Borealis. During the day the light brings out the white sand beaches and colors the waters to a tropical hue.

Further south the sun plays hide and seek with the storms, diffracted by raindrops that split it into the individual wavelengths exposing the full gamut of the rainbow. The constant changing of light can darken the landscape or highlight the beauty of the glacially stripped mountain sides. Even in the dark it brightens the water that cascades the grey rocks, driven by pelting downpours.

The downpours leave behind mountains wrapped in mists. Clouds that add subtleties to the countryside, sometimes blocking the color leaving behind only shades of grey, black and white. Then a sunset paints the sky or backlights the clouds giving them new form.

The clouds also bring water. Combined with the melt from the interior ice caps and glaciers, water seeks to reach the sea. Having only relatively recently been freed from the glaciers the rocks still stand proud, and instead the waterfalls empty the interior over the cliffs. Light against dark. A ribbon of every changing white. Tucked away in the trees or exposed –waterfalls are everywhere, trickles to torrents.

The extremes of light, from total darkness to midnight sun, with its accompanying weather – requires that life that lives there is resilient. The Norwegian heritage is just that and has learned to survive off the bounty from the oceans.

Surrounded by the North and the Norwegian Sea, oceans of life ply its shores. Centuries of feeding the mouths of Europe with freeze dried stockfish built trade. A maritime culture permeates the history and the land. Inside the deepest fjords and isolated rocks that form the island chains, successful outposts of Human life abound. The toughness of people that have inherited the Viking spirit who ventured from the shores to settle the remote and harsh lands of Faroe islands, Iceland, Labrador and Greenland. A people who learned to live in the light of the north.