Dønna

Dønna is another Helgeland island we have visited and the one where Claude lives. The nice thing about the trip is that costs were covered by the University in Nesna, and we only paid for the ferry. We divided into three cars as we had three drivers - Elin, Claude and Hannen Maren. At first, we arrived to Mo i Rana, and I'm still not sure why, because the city is in the opposite direction from our destination. Anyway, we stopped in Mosjøen, then Sandnessjøen, where we saw Petter Dass Museum. We also been to Herøy and then we arrived to Dønna. The trip took the whole day and the majority of time we have spent in cars, because it was the best mean of transport - we didn't have much time but many places to see. Even though I prefer walking and discovering many things on my own, it was a nice trip. ;)

View on the fjord, just out of Nesna. The small island in the middle is Lovund.

Finally I saw a reindeer! Id est, a living one, not one of those in supermarkets.

Mooses! Sorry for the bad quality, but this picture was taken out of the car. 

Another great thing I fell in love with - a mill, called "House of Winds" with descriptions in Latin. It's five-metre-high sculpure made by Sissel Tolaas, incorporated twelve propellers and is executed in reinforced concrete. It is situated near Helgeland Bridge, just outside Sandnessjøen town centre. Great picture here. ;)

Alstahaug Church was built approx. 1200 (or 1100s?) and is one of seven medieval churches still preserved in northern Norway. Norwegian poet Petter Dass served here as a priest from 1689 until he died in 1707. The Church and the museum are located about 20 km south of Sandnessøjen.

Churchyard.

Altarpiece.

The Petter Dass Museum. It turned out that this man was not only a commonly known writer and author of many Lutheran poems and psalms in Norwegian, but also a priest who served in Nesna. I took a look at the pictures I have taken at the beginning and it turned out that this mysterious figure in front of church in Nesna is... 

Petter Dass himself! Now I can die in peace. 

But let's go back to the Museum.

Some girls even in museum couldn't refrain from taking a selfie.

View out of the window.

Accessories with Petter Dass.

Watch out! A moose!

Then we sailed to Herøy.

 I wonder how in such a small ferry was enough place for all those cars and trucks.

Hurtigruten.

De syv Søstre (The Seven Sisters) - a mountain range on the island of Alsten.

Then we divided into two groups - the majority of us went with Claude to the view point in Dønna, and Daria and I stayed with Elin and Hannen, and we were driving around the island. 

We went to Gleinsneset, which is a burial site with 21 graves from the Iron Age.

And then we found... a phallus! (fallossteinen) I.e. a phallic stone on burial mound in Dønna, which was found on Vardhaugen on Glein. Supposedly, it was created in honour of Njord and Nerthus. Well, Hannen and Elin told us that if you dance around it, you'll find a good husband, so...

Helgeland Bridge (Helgelandsbrua) crosses the Leirfjorden between the mainland and the island Alsta. Sandnessjøen is located just the southwest of the bridge on the island.

Modeling

The title still seems strange to me, as I have nothing to do with all these models. I don't care about fashion, neither watch miss pagenats nor feel like following the trends. Actually, I used to take pictures of landscapes, still life, nature, but not especially a shoots of people. Sometimes my friends were asking me to take some pictures of them, and obviously I did, but still - I missed a certain sense how to depict a person properly, how to set them on the picture, and so on. When I've been in Norway, many of us wanted to have some nice photographs with all these great views in the background, so I decided to do my best and do some photo shoots for each of us. Here I wanted to show you the effects we obtained. It turned out that I've been surrounded by models and stars! 

Agata

Ada

Zosia

Daria

Alex

Obviously, working with living object is more challenging, but it also gives you more satisfaction - especially, when you see that all these girls were really happy about the pictures. Of course, it were models who had to put much more effort to it - prepare themselves, pose on ice-cold fjord, struggle with sun, wind and many other factors, and at the same time look great. After these photo shoots I realized that modeling can be really a serious proffesion, even though I used to perceive models as a vain fops. Anyway, I'm glad I tried something new with photography and it turned out to not be that bad ;) 

I usually stay on the other side of lens, but this time it was my turn to be a 'model' - some pictures by Agata and Alex: