Photo: Summer over Unstad, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  June 5, 2015. 22:00

It is always hard to decide how long to wait around the mountains. The light of the midnight sun is on of the main draws of summer on Lofoten, but a relatively cloudy horizon such as this day, you might not end up getting any light as the sun hovers over the sea. So, if you’re wanting better odds of sunlight on your scene, you need to head up a bit early. In this case, I left the car around 19:00 – with plans not to return until 02:00 at the earliest.

It was a 1 hour hike up the ridge towards Nonstind (see hiking guide HERE) to get to this view point. By the time I arrived, there was still enough gaps in clouds to allow brief moments of golden light to shine across the beach and valley below.  Soon enough though, the clouds thickened and Unstad was left in shadow for the remainder of the night.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
17mm
ISO 160
f 8
1/320 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Summer in Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  June 12, 2015. 11:00

I talk a lot about the hostel at Stamsund, which is pretty much the main reason I’ve returned to the Islands so many times over the years. But for some reason, I never really take many pictures of the hostel itself – probably because when the weather is good, I’m elsewhere on Lofoten, not sitting around eating popcorn.

During the midnight sun days of June, I become a bit more nocturnal than normal, often not going to bed until 03:00 or 04:00 in the morning. This means I also sleep in a bit. So waking up one morning after a light night in the mountains, the sky was blue and sunny with some nice puffy white clouds. I walked across the bay to get this image of the hostel, shining bright in the summer sun.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/500 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Summer light over Unstad, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 7, 2015. 21:27

Clouds and frequent rain showers had been passing the Islands all day. But finally by evening, the sky seemed to be clearing enough for me to venture out to the hills.

My objective was a small mountain above Unstad, but not knowing where/if there was an actual route to the summit, I picked what looked like the most obvious way, a steep grassy hillside full of grazing sheep with a small creek running down the middle. Progress was slow as the wet grass was slippery and inconsistent, often with rocks buried beneath.

About halfway to the ridge I was trying to reach, I realized the light would be gone before I arrived. So I traversed over a steep slope and out onto some cliffs where I could get a nice view of Unstad, with the low evening sun shining across the village. The shadows of the clouds were racing across the land. giving depth to the scene. I would have liked to have been on top of the mountain, but I’m happy with the results here.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
98mm
ISO 250
f 8
1/320 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Waiting for midnight over Unstad, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 5, 2015. 23:28

I addition to a few last photos from my Seasons on Lofoten – Summer eBook, I was also already planing one of the next books, about the beaches of Lofoten. But beyond merely capturing the beaches from sea level, I was also looking to photograph them from above. Unstad beach was the 2nd hike I made, up to the summit of Nonstind.

I started the evening much earlier, with some nice evening light shining in over the bay. But as time passed, I was quite ready to leave the mountain yet, so I headed up a bit further. Somewhere along the ridge there was this nice overlook, which I reached just as the sun emerged for a few minutes from the otherwise mostly cloudy sky.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
32mm
ISO 100
f 9
1/100 second
WB Dayligh