Awake or Asleep in Reine, by Bob Specker

The Reine Rorbuer [ fishing huts ] in the Lofoten Islands off the northwest coast of mainland Norway are a photographer’s paradise. In February of 2020 Jennifer King led a group of five photographers there to see, photograph, and in many other ways enjoy the wonderful scenery, hospitable villages, and very cordial residents. The area’s mountains were covered in a quiet, soothing blanket of white with frequent refreshing snowfalls during our stay there, the Aurora Borealis gave us a satisfying performance, and we picked up some local Norwegian lingo and enjoyed their seafood based hospitality.

One day while the group was driving through the fishing villages our  guide, Jennifer, expressed the opinion that while the area was a spectacular place to visit she was doubtful whether or not she would enjoy living there herself. As I understood her comments, her concerns were whether or not life would be stimulating enough there, whether one could find fulfillment and satisfaction unless one perhaps had been born there and raised in the traditional ways of the local people. We all understood her thoughts.

Later that day she gave her group an assignment to photograph any aspects of Reine Rorbuer during our afternoon free time and to do so in order to create a cohesive story with our images. I initially struggled with finding such a common thread until I thought back about her earlier comments about living there. That led me to seek out images which would highlight whether the village of Reine was, in fact,  “asleep or awake”  and stimulating or quieting, during our stay there. Was the village asleep, with few signs of life or human movement, or was it awake, with clear indications of a bustling, active community ?

It was winter and many activities were shut down for the season so it was not easy to find clear cut examples of either the village’s being asleep or awake. I had to use my imagination. The images I furnished to Jennifer to tell my story may or may not clearlyl convey the desired effect. See what you think as to how each image illustrates one or other aspect of Reine, Norway. No categorization will be completely ‘wrong’; that’s the beauty of practicing the art of photography.

Bob Specker

The dormant sod roof shows ’sleeping’ vegetation.

This image also has dormant vegetation but the bridge in the background hints at daily movement and traffic over it [life] although one can not see vehicles from this distance.

The sea birds resting on the water and looking for fish to eat were actually one of the unambiguous signs of life and activity, even if not of the human sort.

Again, dormant vegetation, but of a different type of that in prior images

Implied life and wakefulness : the rooster’s movement when windy and even its mere presence pointed to human habitation and life.

Similarly, stairs imply human occupancy/life but also the spiral form of it seemed more awake and dynamic than a static straight-line staircase. And even the hint of a split of some sort in the right-most window covering might be construed to mean ’some living person is inside’ [ quite a stretch, eh ? ].

The waving flag of the hotel ownership gave hope that, at least here, something was going on and ‘live’ guests were welcome. And wave it did in the very strong winds.

Definitely a sign of long winter sleeps here although soon the racks will be filled with cod to dry in the ocean air.

The light at the door of the restaurant was one of the few genuine signs that life was going on here.

And the letter carrier’s motion back into his vehicle indicated that at least some folks inside were getting mail.

This boat will never sail again, a certain sign of one type of ‘nautical’ sleep.

This bright pink heather plant was one completely unambiguous sign of life in Reine, albeit it botanical, not human.

These boats were moored in their docks while their owners may or may not have been sleeping or awake.

A merchant selling winter fishing gear could be a sure sign of life in Reine.

In summary, it looks like Reine was much higher on the ‘asleep scale’ and I admit having to r    e    a    c    h       quite a bit to find any meaningful signs of life that day.