Photo: The look of early summer: wildflowers and rain, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 24, 2021. 15:57

After June’s fantastic start this year, the weather has unfortunately returned to more normal conditions for early summer, with temperatures in the low teens over the last weeks and frequent passing rain showers or overcast skies. Well, Lofoten fared better than the Helgeland coast, where I spent a week in almost non-stop rain – the benefit of Lofoten being out in the sea is that the weather passes quicker, and doesn’t get ‘stuck’ over the islands as long. Although this isn’t always a positive.

But the rain is also what turns the landscape green and fills the fields, meadows, and hillsides with an assortment of wildflowers. Right now, at the end of June and into the first weeks of July is when Lofoten is at its peak of summer color – or what otherwise might be considered spring in more moderate latitudes of the world. This is the time of year I’ve finally been waiting for after the long thaw out from winter. Finally Lofoten has blossomed.

Soon however, during the first week of July, many of the coastal meadows, which are actually farm fields, will be mowed for winter feed for the farmers’ sheep and cows. This scene however, will survive the cutting, but eventually the flowers will seed and disappear. The grass here will still grow wild throughout the summer, waiting until the sheep are brought down from the mountains in autumn, and kept here for a while until they are returned to their barns for winter. Or in the case of the lambs, a less pleasant fate.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 24-200 f/4-6.3
66mm
ISO 100
f 6
1/2320 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Misty clouds form over Tverrfjellet after evening rain, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 7, 2021. 06:59

I usually don’t camp too much during June unless I’m heading out to the mountains for more than one night. Otherwise, as its never dark at this time of year, it’s easy enough just to hike back to my van after shooting the midnight light wherever I’m at and have a lighter backpack without camping gear. But on this evening, heading up to Fageråskaret pass, and then continuing up to Markan, I saw that there was a few hours of early morning rain in the forecast, so I brought the tent along for the hike.

The trail out of Selfjord is one of the worst on Lofoten. Unfortunately, it also leads to some of my favorite mountains. I would visit the area much more if the trial were better, but the bog at the beginning, and then the terribly eroded ascent/descent to Fageråskaret always makes for a slightly tedious journey. It has actually be fairly dry on Lofoten for the last weeks, and so I was well tempted to hike back down the pass before the rain arrived. But the photographer in me said it would be better to wait until morning, to see what happens after the rain.

Luckily I was correct to wait, and as the rain finished in the early morning hours, by the time I emerged from my tent around 06:00 (I hadn’t gone to bed until 02:00 – so it was more like a nap than a nights sleep), mostly clouds were moving around the landscape – the exact conditions I thought might happen.

Unfortunately, a layer of high clouds also remained, allowing the sun only to peak through over small areas from time to time. So the light wasn’t as dramatic as I had been hoping for. Sunset the previous evening hadn’t been very spectacular either. But it is one of my goals for the summer to try and be a bit more risky with the weather. Typically, I don’t like hiking in the rain. But I think I need to push myself to do so more, as that is when the potential dramatic light will happen – and if I’m not already on the top of a mountain, then I’ll always miss it! A little rain won’t hurt me, especially here on Lofoten, where you’re often never more than 1-2 hours hiking from the car.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 24-200 f/4-6.3
110mm
ISO 100
f 7.1
1/250 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Midnight sun under Fredvang bridge, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 29, 2021. 00:46

The Lofoten Islands are now two weeks into summer’s midnight sun season – and still more than a month away until the sun will touch the sea on the northern horizon again in mid July. Some years it feels like a long wait until summer. This year we have been lucky, with fantastic conditions for weeks! Though now it will be raining for several days – though looking at my semi-brown lawn, I guess we need it!

A late night message of orcas near Hamnøy saw me driving west from home at 22:00. I caught a brief glimpse of them outside of Sakrisøy, but they were moving fast toward the west – and road closure near Reine to widen the narrow causeway that has caused traffic problems for years was underway, so I couldn’t continue to follow them.

But it was a nice May evening as I made my way back home. Crossing Kåkersund bridge, which connects Moskenesøy and Flakstadøy I saw the sun shining over the straight to the north and almost stopped to try and take a photo, but decided on continuing on. Eventually as I made my way along the narrow, winding road of Flakstadøy I could see the sun again, low on the horizon to the north. As I continued and the bridges came into sight, I thought there might be a possibility for an interesting photo.

Luckily, there was a fish factory that I could park in which had the sun almost perfectly aligned under the bridge. In a hurry, I first shot from near where I parked, but the composition wasn’t as interesting, but the sun at that moment had been higher in the sky. As the sun moved eastwards, I had to move to center it under the bridge again. But in only these 5-10 minutes, it had also dropped in elevation.

I now know the timing I need to be there for, so I think I will go back one of these days and try to make a better version of this image with the sun centered directly under the bridge. It seems like it could be a cool and unique image.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6
330mm
ISO 250
f 5.6
1/500 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Cloudless summer sky and fresh summer green over Sakrisøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 2, 2021. 14:02

Lofoten is off to a fantastic start to June this year, already with temperatures between 19-21˚C since the start of the month (its only June 4th as I write this, so who knows if the trend will continue.). One needs to go back to 2017 or 2014 for the last time Lofoten had similar temperatures in early June. Otherwise, the average temperature during this time of year is around 8˚C, so not particularly warm.

Normally at this time of year I’m pretty much fully transitioned into ‘Midnight sun’ time, but the occasional day sees me out of the house before noon. On Wednesday I was doing some filming for a friend and found myself in west Lofoten, enjoying the year’s first cinnamon roll at Anita’s Sjømat in the early afternoon. Before heading back I took a quick walk up the small hill overlooking the yellow rorbu cabins at Sakrisøy. Despite a ‘boring’ blue sky, This is what a perfect feeling day in early summer on Lofoten looks like: Azure water, fresh green trees, blue sky, a bit of mountain snow… Paradise. It is days like this that make the months of darkness and bad weather over the winter worth being up here. And even more so because the weather can shift at any time – so we need to enjoy it while we can!

For the island landscape itself though, it will still be a few more weeks until it is finally in its summer appearance. The coastal farm fields have been green and filling with various flowers for several weeks now. However, the wild grasslands and landscapes are still somewhat brown, as the fresh green hasn’t grown tall enough yet. You can see so in the grasses in the very bottom of the image. So it will still be a few more weeks until the wild areas of Lofoten are full of knee high grass and flowers – that is when summer really arrives for me and camping season begins. Although for the farm fields, they will be cut by the farmers for winter feed some time in the first week or so of July – so there is kinda only 2-3 weeks where all of Lofoten’s landscape is filled with grass and wildflowers.

What weather the rest of summer will bring is anyones guess. But for the few tourists and us locals that have been here during the last week, it is about as good as it gets!

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 14-30 f/4
18.5mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/320 second
WB Daylight