What the Ice Age Left Behind

Sometimes an entire ice age lies right at our feet.
On this stony beach along Norway's coast, thousands of stones lie close together. Grey, brown, red, almost black. Some are smooth and rounded; others are rough and crossed by fine lines.
They are part of an ancient glacial moraine, traces of a landscape shaped by ice.

Standing there, knowing this changes the way I look. Suddenly I no longer see a collection of stones. I see time.
Time on a scale that is hard to comprehend.

Photographically, a stony beach like this is challenging. Shapes, colours and textures are everywhere. The image can quickly become cluttered.
And that is precisely what draws me to it.

I look for order within this natural chaos. For repetition, small interruptions and lines the eye can follow.

In this photograph, the stones lead me slowly from the foreground towards the sea. Above them, a heavy sky lends the landscape a quiet, almost timeless quality.
Perhaps that is why this place fascinates me so much.

The ice vanished long ago. The sea continues to work on the stones. Wind and water are still changing them, but so slowly that we barely notice.
For me, landscape photography is also about seeing slowly. The longer I stay, the more a seemingly simple landscape begins to tell its story.

You'll find more photographs and reflections on this place in my photography project “Among the Stones” at this link.