Photo: Panoramic view over Bunes beach and Reine near summit of Storskiva, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 22, 2016. 12:11

After the previous weekend’s failure to reach the summit of Ertenhelltind, last weekend I found myself on the 21:30 ferry from Reine to Vindstad with another mountain in sight. The goal: Storskiva. The iconic peak rising 848 meters above the southern side of Bunes beach.

The autumn has mostly been mild and dry this year, and even mostly cooperative on the weekends when my mountain partners are available. Though no rain was forecast, a shower passed over my house Friday afternoon, giving me a bit of hesitation about the condition our route for Saturday. But as evening came, the radar was clear and so I headed to Reine.

After a cold, windy night camping on the pass above Bunes, we took a leisurely start to the hike. The forecast was for full sun, yet the sky remained somewhat cloudy, but above the summits at least! With the sun low on the horizon at this time of year, Bunes only gets a brief amount of sunlight. With the clouds added in, light was only cast among the surrounding mountains.

A little below the summit we took a shot break and I shot this 12 image pano, handheld – not always time/need for the tripod, even though it was on my backpack. The wind was blowing cold, so we didn’t stop long. Above, the temperatures dropped below freezing and the turf was frozen and slippery, with winter just around the corner. But not before one last snow free summit of the year! And one that I have waited a while for and will surely be back again to watch the magical summer midnight light shine across Bunes and Helvetestind!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 200
f 10
1/320 second
WB Daylight
12 image pano

Photo: Autumn morning over Yttersand beach, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 18, 2016. 09:31

I had originally planned to camp on the summit of Fuglhuken, yet a late start to the day meant I would not reach the summit before sunset. The weather was cloudier than forecasted, and my main hopes were for a repeat of the northern lights, which had been fantastic on the previous night – when I was a bit lazy after a day of climbing, so stayed low on the beaches.

I thought about just heading back to the car, but since I had already carried my gear up to Ytresandhei, I decided just to stay the night up on the ridge near Røren, just in case anything happened.

At 18:40, I saw the first flicker of aurora in the sky. However, the combination of high clouds and full moon were too strong. Crawling into my sleeping bag to escape the cold, I remained optimistic for the sky to clear, and kept checking until late into the night. Sometime early in the morning a faint aurora glowed overhead, but it wasn’t strong enough, nor was I, for me to enter into the cold.

Dawn brought some nice colors, but the composition was off for my location on the ridge. So when it became evident I wouldn’t shoot much, I packed camp and began the short walk back to the van. It wasn’t until I was almost back at the parking area that I thought this scene looked interesting enough to pull out my camera. The clouds were moving just enough for me use a 10 stop ND filter and and an exposure of 90 seconds to bring a little softness back into the sky to match the feeling of the light.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
28mm
ISO 50
f 13
91 seconds
WB Daylight
10 stop ND filter

Photo: Autumn rainbow over Olstind mountain peak, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 2, 2016. 08:44

The beginning of October brought the usual turbulent autumn weather across Lofoten. And with the wind and rain come the rainbows. I often remark, that for a place with so much rain, rainbows are relatively infrequent compared to my experience with similar conditions such as in Scotland. Yet with the autumn rains and the lowering sun, the rainbows seem to grow in frequency.

I was guiding a tour on this particular morning. I was just about to pickup a client from the bridge at Hamnøy, but as I saw the rain approaching, I told him to stay – and where he got an absolutely fantastic photo – while I continued across the bridge and parked on the other side.

By the time I was out of my van, the rain was already falling, blowing right into the direction I needed to shoot. I turned my back to the wind and set my camera up in advance. Turning quickly, I fired off a series of shots as the wide glass of the 14-24 was pelted with rain. Luckily the first few shots were good enough.

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
16mm
ISO 125
f 7.1
1/250 second
WB Daylight