A door in Roros Norway: A travel photographer’s paradise

Roros, Norway offers endless charm and, in the winter, plenty of dark days and snow! Located in central Norway on a high plain Roros is a small village that, as a historic mining town, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The mid-November snowfall we experienced while visiting made it all the more charming.

The subject: Roros’ old mining town isn’t just a tourist jaunt. In fact, people still live in many of these historic log homes lined up side-by-side as they march down the narrow back street. The area is called “Sleggveien” or “Slag Way,” for the leftover mining materials there. The streets are filled with little cottages, old smelter’s huts, cabins and sheds. It feels like an outdoor museum. 

The inspiration: On our gander around the area, it wasn’t really twilight, but it felt like it. In mid-November, when the sun’s arc from sunrise to sunset remains so low in the sky, the part of the day where there is the most light still like feels about what we would consider twilight at home. And with snow-filled clouds, fluffy banks of powder everywhere, and flakes drifting down, it was honestly quite magical.

Every historic building begs to be photographed, but this little shed door was particularly sweet with a beguiling metal heart decorating the well-worn and quite weathered door. I suppose I could have tried to light the candle for an even better scene but that would not have been the scene as I found it! One can only think about the hay that is perhaps stored inside, maybe the goats or chickens, or perhaps the shed for wood that would keep the owner’s cottage cozy all winter long.

Artist’s tools: My Nikon D90 still serves me well for many an adventure, as does the 18-105mm lens f/3.5-5.6, both of which I got when I returned to photography after about 25 years! What I like about this focal length on a lens is its ability to capture almost everything for me without fiddling with changing lens or being draped with several cameras with different lenses. I’m a simple photographer like that. I was set at a 1/30^th of second at f/4.2 (remember in November in Roros, Norway, mid-day still means pretty dark!). My focal length was 34mm on my crop frame camera! I also try to avoid over-processing so this has only the simplest of touches.