I love taking landscape photos, and one of my biggest pet peeves is utility lines and power grids. They always seem to cut right through the view at the worst possible moment. You walk around, reframe, crouch down, move to the side, and do everything you can to keep them out of the shot—but the truth is, they’re almost impossible to avoid. They’re everywhere, quietly stretching across the landscape whether you want them there or not.
These photos are from Northern Norway, as you might have guessed. The scenery there is wild, dramatic, and incredibly beautiful, and then there are these thin lines of infrastructure slicing through the sky. At first they feel like an intrusion, but the more you look, the more you realize how much they belong to the story of the place. They’re a reminder that even in the most remote and rugged landscapes, people live, work, and rely on the same basic need: power.
So while I still try to frame them out when I can, I’ve also learned to accept them—sometimes even to include them on purpose. After all, they fit the word “power” in more ways than one. We all need it, and in many places, especially in harsh climates like Northern Norway, it’s simply not possible to hide the lines underground. They become part of the landscape, whether we photographers like it or not.
My post for One Word Sunday
Power lines ARE distracting, aren’t they? But you have still captured lovely scenes.
i feel the same about power lines and poles in photos. Sometimes they don’t distract from the main subject of the photo. Like these wonderful landscape, they seem to fit in just fine.
The photos do give a sense of remoteness