Lofoten Fishing Village

Red fishing cabins stand on timber stilts around a cold, clear harbor in Lofoten. Weathered dock boards run across the foreground, with thick ropes, traps and stacked crates left near the water. Small boats sit between the cabins, and the snow-striped mountains rise sharply behind them under a pale Arctic sky.

Cabin walls make strong color anchors, especially where white trim breaks up the red boards. The dock is useful next, since ropes and plank seams give the lower left corner plenty of direction. Boats, reflections and dark shoreline rocks divide the middle of the picture into smaller areas. Snow on the peaks can wait until later, when the ridges and shadowed gullies are easier to match against the sky.