Rrrright! I promised a series about driving Pentax KP into a state where it could no longer be operated due to frozen controls and lens. For some reason it took two years before I finally started going through the photos shot over the period of one week in absolutely stunning conditions in Finnish Lapland in 2018. I shall write an article about this later when I am done with all the photos I would like to share.

To demonstrate the qualities of light available at this unique location, I will start with kind of harsh afternoon light which quickly turns into dramatic spectacle which then clears up when light starts to fade.

Rising front of snow and harsh wind from the east at the background:


Still blindingly bright light at 180 degrees


The snowfront rises up and starts covering direct sunlight


Magic mushrooms in the snowstorm lit by sunlight from the west


Blinding light straight into sun. Note the flare on foreground coming from my friend's Nikkor 24-70 front lens!!!


And the snowing is over but remaining clouds create some dramatic vistas, particularly when shot using a polarizer


Frozen lens surface is not very effective against bright light


And the day starts slowly fading towards the night






This is the first collection of photos from total of five which I will be posting.

[Rexlawyer]

I saw something like these trees a long time ago. But these look far more spectacular. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest and reading your post. It’s to bad there isn’t a photo essay competition here. Thanks a heap for sharing.

[Apet-Sure]

These are just too stunning for words! I would like to see these images published in a large-format 'coffee table' book with your commentary on the photographic techniques, physical hardships, and interesting anecdotes about this project. I can imagine Ricoh Imaging being interested in using one or more of these in their advertising/on their website. You might consider submitting some of these images to this forum's Exclusive Gallery:
PentaxForums Exclusive Gallery - Pentax User Photo Gallery

I kind of like these. To the Nth degree.

[Rondec]

These are amazing images. The lighting in the second set really stands out to me. Clearly it is beautiful country, but you've done a wonderful job of capturing it (and pushing your gear to the very edge as well).

[Kerrowdown]

What a stunning set of images, simply superb.

[Ex Finn.]

Lappia parhainmillaan! (Lapland at its best)
Thanks for sharing.

[MJKoski]

Thank you, everyone, for feedback and also apologies for such a huge collection of photos. Maybe 5-10 should have been enough. I still have a set from the following day left and maybe it is better to include it here as the conditions were quite similar.

Somewhat harsh afternoon light and light snowing all around.








Have a look at the tonality here during the very last minutes while the sun is still above the horizon.


Sunset behind the Pillar


Now, the same scene as before but sun has already set and all that remains for a short while are pale colors of the evening sky. This is the moment before everything turns into deep blue hues. Temperatures began to drop quickly at this point reaching -30C levels and wind also picked up some speed.


Earth shadow rises up


Blue-Cyan type colors this evening


And here, an intense moment of afterglow about an hour after the sunset


This is where the day ended for me. Both snowshoes now kaputt due to broken pivot mechanism. First one snapped the day before and I managed to do some band-aid fixing. But two broken shoes was a bit too much to handle and I tumbled down into snow with tripod + KP ending up there as well.



In the end, my advice to everyone is to fully embrace the cold weather and not to worry about camera gear too much. Just wear warm enough clothing and keep moving around to stay warm and keep your blood circulating. You can have the (frozen) cake and also eat it later. It took me two years and slap in the face to process these. And by the way, 35mm macro limited was the only lens I used excluding the last moonlight scene from the previous set. There is no direct FF replacement for it, the closest one being Zeiss 50mm Makro-planar .ZK maybe (which I own).

I will not ask for money if Ricoh wants to use these in their marketing but instead I want to test their future FF and 645 cameras in the field for return. Those are my terms.

PS. I was up there for a week again in January 2020 and used my Full Spectrum K-1 and a Nikon Z6 with adapted Pentax lenses. The Nikon cannot keep up with Pentax KP IQ when comparing normal 24MP exposures thanks to PDAF banding issues and the KP really puts the Nikon to shame when Pixel-Shift is used (which I used for quite a many images in this collection).

[Larrymc]

Superb images, hauntingly beautiful!! Its great to see that the KP acquitted itself so well!!

[SSGGeezer]

So many great images, both in harsh light and then as things moved into the blue hour. Great work in a lovely place.

[bertwert]

There are just so many amazing shots here, I would love the opportunity to ski through these trees, just exploring the beauty.

On another note, that's great that the camera+lens combo held up, makes me more confident taking my 21 Ltd out in the cold and ice since you were using your 35 Ltd (both are non-WR lenses). I find I need to use the AA adapter with Eneloops in my K-50 to get much shooting time when we get into those -20°C and down temperatures.

[csa]

Rrrright! I promised a series about driving Pentax KP into a state where it could no longer be operated due to frozen controls and lens. For some reason it took two years before I finally started going through the photos shot over the period of one week in absolutely stunning conditions in Finnish Lapland in 2018. I shall write an article about this later when I am done with all the photos I would like to share.

To demonstrate the qualities of light available at this unique location, I will start with kind of harsh afternoon light which quickly turns into dramatic spectacle which then clears up when light starts to fade.

Rising front of snow and harsh wind from the east at the background:


Still blindingly bright light at 180 degrees


The snowfront rises up and starts covering direct sunlight


Magic mushrooms in the snowstorm lit by sunlight from the west


Blinding light straight into sun. Note the flare on foreground coming from my friend's Nikkor 24-70 front lens!!!


And the snowing is over but remaining clouds create some dramatic vistas, particularly when shot using a polarizer


Frozen lens surface is not very effective against bright light


And the day starts slowly fading towards the night






This is the first collection of photos from total of five which I will be posting.

Absolutely amazing photos! I've never seen anything like this, and you captured them so well!

Thanks for sharing!

[ChristianRock]

All these pictures are absolutely fantastic, it's a reality out there that I didn't even know existed. Thanks for sharing these!

[luftfluss]

Again, these are fantastic, amazing, draw-dropping, etc etc.

[SimonC]

Really interesting photos, they make me think of The Lord of the Rings.

Very impressive.

[MJKoski]

Oh, thread seems to have surfaced. Thank you very much for looking and for any thoughts. It is soon next winter season ;D If Covid-19 situation allows I plan to go again next winter.

I could perhaps organize another bunch of winter stuff and create another thread. It will be a mixture of Nikon/Sony/K-1 material. I guess it could help pass some time if people are stuck inside. Maybe five images per camera.

[SSGGeezer]

Oh, thread seems to have surfaced. Thank you very much for looking and for any thoughts. It is soon next winter season ;D If Covid-19 situation allows I plan to go again next winter.

I could perhaps organize another bunch of winter stuff and create another thread. It will be a mixture of Nikon/Sony/K-1 material. I guess it could help pass some time if people are stuck inside. Maybe five images per camera.

If there are similar set ups, you can illustrate your comments on banding and such above, then do just a thread with only the good images like here. Either is interesting.
If you stood next to one of these trees, would you fall into a pit directly below the tree where there is little snow? I have seen that up inn the Mountains of Washington State.