December was filled with adventure, with my two main destinations being Stavanger, Norway, and San Diego.
I was in Stavanger for a planning meeting for work. Since this was a government-funded trip, I had no time budgeted to explore outside of the city. Fortunately, there was time in the afternoons to get around the city and see the sights. Stavanger is a fairly small city with not many tourist attractions, which I appreciated because it offers an authentic view of city life in Norway. The best part about Stavanger is the Sverd i Fjell, which translates to “Swords in Rock.” The Sverd is a commemorative monument for the Battle of Hafrsfjord, which occurred in 872. The Sverd consists of three large sword statues protruding from a rock that is just off of a main road in the Madla neighborhood in Stavanger.
So far, the photos of the Sverds are my absolute favorites. There is nothing more badass than 10-meter swords stuck in stone to commemorate a Viking battle. I decided to feature it as the top photo on my landing page when you open my website, and I can see the other version hanging on my wall as I type this paragraph.
The meeting wrapped up at the end of the week. I had been going through some work troubles and was not in a great mood. I ended up sleeping in too late and missing my flight. I had lived in Okinawa for three years before this point and had done an immense amount of flying, and not once had I ever missed a flight. I tried to rectify this by calling the government emergency travel number, which, naturally, did not work at all, and the automated system would hang up on me every time. Fortunately, I called Delta directly, who informed me that there is a $100 fee to reschedule my flight to the exact same time the following day. I saw this as an all-around best scenario as I am not totally screwed, and my command did not care because I was just getting back on a Sunday instead of a Saturday now.
With my newfound time in Norway, I decided to get an Airbnb for the night and then rent a car. You don't need any special license to drive in Norway, so renting a car was easy enough. I ended up booking a cabin Airbnb near Lysefjord, about an hour or so from the airport. All these events unfolded early in the morning, so I made my way from the airport to hike Preikestolen, also known as Pulpit Rock.
Preikestolen is an insanely beautiful 604-meter cliff that overlooks the Lysefjorden. I dropped my stuff off at the Airbnb and made my way there as quickly as I could. Even though I made reservations, it still took a few hours to reach the parking lot. I paid the fee, and the staff at the entrance informed me that the park isn’t closed; however, there are no emergency services available to assist if needed, and any rescue team would take a long time to arrive. I am in Norway; I had to make the hike. It’s about an 8-kilometer trek from the parking lot to the rock, and as an American, I have no idea what a kilometer is. If you convert that into miles, it’s not that far. However, it was Norwegian winter, and it started to rain just above freezing about halfway through the hike. I am alone, and it is now dark and raining, so at this point, I considered turning back. However, a group of three people passed me along the way, so I decided to follow them at a distance in case something went wrong.
I made it to the rock but couldn't see past the edge. If you look at views of Preikestolen online, you'll see amazing sights that are unlike anything you have ever experienced. The photos included in this post are of the view that I had. I stayed just long enough to take as many photos as I could, then I decided to ask the group if it was okay for me to follow them on the way back down for safety.
I asked them where they were from, and they said Tampa, Florida (my hometown). I inquired why they were in Norway, and they replied it was for an arctic scuba trip (reasons unrelated to me). I asked where in Tampa they lived, and it turned out they were very close to my home, practically my neighbors. It was a bizarre coincidence to meet neighbors on a cliff in Norway. I completed the hike with them, and then we went our separate ways.
Earlier in the year, I promised my then-girlfriend that I would take her to San Diego since it is one of my favorite places and she had never been. I bought the tickets and made the plans, but work obligations promptly ruined our original trip. Fortunately, we rescheduled for around New Year’s Eve and got an Airbnb. We hiked the San Diego River Gorge Trail, which led to a waterfall. We also went to a local breakfast joint down the street twice because it was so good and had the best Italian dinner of our lives.
Almost all of the photos this month were taken with my Sony A7IV and GM 35mm lens. I also managed to find a Sigma 60-600mm lens on Facebook Marketplace. This lens is gigantic, and although it’s not incredibly fast at f/4.5, it still performs well enough to capture some of the Sanderlings in the area, as well as ships on the horizon and some of the plant life on Topsail Island. While the lens is cumbersome, it is incredibly versatile, excelling in bright daylight. Low light photography with this lens necessitates some denoising with Lightroom or DXO PureRaw.
December is also the first month that I started taking photos with my DJI Mini 4 Pro. After my November Alaska trip, I decided that I had to buy one before Norway. While in Norway, I bought one-day European drone insurance and flew it from the Aribnb around the Fjord. I also pulled it out while hiking in San Diego. These photos have been on my list to revisit ever since, and one day, I will update this post with them.
