Photo: Northern lights over Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 14, 2018. 22:44

My final photo workshop of the winter season ended early Monday morning, it what was probably the worst weather of the entire winter thus far. Compared to last year, 2018 was a dream season – though a little more snow would have been nice. But weather wise, there were no ‘indoor weather’ days until this past weekend.

And good weather on Lofoten means lots of green at night. Every trip managed at least 2 nights of decent northern lights, while a couple tours got lucky with some solar storms – such as this photo from last week.

We started the night at Storsandnes, but as soon as I saw what the lights were doing, I made a quick decision to head over towards Vik beach, where we remained for some time until the sky grew quiet. Next was a quick stop at Uttakleiv, but the entire beach was fully of blinking camera, so we headed for a slightly long drive to Unstad – where we had the beach to ourself somehow.

Even as we were arriving, the aurora had picked up again. And as we made our way down to the the beach, the entire sky began to fill with light. Another one of those nights where you don’t know which direction to look.

Just before the last tour I had finally made some much needed equipment upgrades as well: Nikon D850 + Sigma 14mm f/1.8 lens. I should have bought this lens at the beginning of winter! It might not seem like much, but that extra 1.3 stops of light can make quite a difference. In this shot for example, I was at 4 seconds, where I would have been 8 seconds with a f/2.8 lens. Quite a difference! And I could have shot even faster had I raised the ISO beyond 1600.

Sadly, there is only a few more weeks left in the aurora season. So I will try to make the most of things in the days to come. Though the lens is a beast! So I’m not sure whether I will attempt to carry it up any mountains – and unfortunately, it doesn’t replace the 14-24.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 1600
f 2
4 seconds
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom

Photo: Ice, Nedreheimredalsvatnet, Eggum, Vestvågøy, Lofoten islands, Norway. March 3, 2018. 17:34

I’m back with another detail shot this week. I originally headed out to Eggum for sunset, but soon the sun disappeared behind some clouds and the golden light was gone. So I headed over to lake Nedreheimredalsvatnet to see what I could find.

It has been a cold winter this year on Lofoten, and the whole of the islands are in a deep freeze – even the lakes in the west, which didn’t freeze at all last year. With only a short amount of daylight this time of year, everything at Eggum in frozen.

The lake can have some nice structures where the rocks crack through. Unfortunately though, I was not the first, and the light dusting of snow had been thoroughly walked through at most of the rock cracks. So I looked for something else.

I am still fascinated with ice, and the patterns that form. Maybe I will photograph a whole abstract series one of these days. Here, I simply liked the cracks with a light filling of snow to bring out some contrast. I knew that I would like this image as a 1:1, so I put on my 24mm tilt-shift lens and pointed the camera straight down, shifting the lens between shots.

Camera Info:
Nikon D810
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 160
f 6.7
.3 second
WB Daylight
3 images – top, middle, bottom

Photo: First sun of the new year, Offersøykammen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 10, 2018. 11:16

Though the polar night technically finished around January 5/6, weather kept the sun hidden for a few days longer. But finally on Wednesday, with a clear weather forecast, the sun returned to the north!

Still low on the horizon, I was careful to choose a mountain in which I knew it would be visible. Offersøykammen was one of the safer choices, with enough composition options. Unfortunately though, heavy rain on Monday and Tuesday melted away much of the snow which has been covering the islands since Christmas.

Having spent much of November trapped by rockslides at home, It had actually been nearly 2 months since I last saw the sun. It might sound strange, but it was a welcomed sight to see my shadow for the first time since I can remember! I kind of never noticed it missing, but was I was standing on the summit and the first light hit me, I finally remembered.

The wind was blowing cold across the summit. Even so, I just sat there for almost two hours until my toes began to get slightly numb and the sun disappeared behind Skottind.

Thursday provided an even more colorful sunrise, unfortunately I was busy with other things and couldn’t get out. But there are many months of winter left, and plenty more opportunities for cold days in the mountains of Lofoten.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
15mm
ISO 160
f 11
1/50 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Winter arrives in the north, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 29, 2017. 14:55

It is hard to say exactly – when autumn ends and winter begins. Every year is slightly different, but usually sometime in the end of October or early november as the days grow darker that the weather becomes darker as well. This year autumn seems to have held on as long as possible. Yet, there is no escaping the arrival of winter here.

The weather of the weeks has now made that turn. Winter is here. I’m not as eager to go outside anymore – I actually haven’t done any hiking in several weeks – good I joined the Gym! Any thoughts of long nights alone in my tent are easily chased from my mind.

Winter does not have a single look, it is more of a mood and a feeling. Dark days and stormy nights. Wind and snow blowing sideways across your face. Running from the parking lot into the supermarket. And sleep, lots of sleep.

It likely wont be until after the new year that there is enough snow for me to pull out my skis. And even then, it is a fine balance between snow or rain.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
180mm
ISO 250
f 5
1/160 seconds
WB Daylight