Friday Photo #477 – White Winter

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Photo: Deep winter freeze at Nedre Heimredalsvatnet, Eggum, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 9, 2022. 11:42

Lofoten has been full of snow for the last weeks and even the often windswept outer coastlines and mountains have remained in a deep freeze – the landscape often looking like a black and white painting. But unfortunately, this will soon be coming to and end for the time being as the weather forecasts are warning of up to 50cm of rain arriving Saturday night.

It will actually be a very quick transition from white winter to brown winter. The forecast for Saturday at 08:00 is -5 degrees c, while by 20:00 in the evening the temperatures will have risen to 5 degrees c. A 10 degree temperature difference in only a few short hours. And with it, heavy, snow melting rain, which looks like it will last throughout most of next week as well, unfortunately. Even Tromsø further north doesn’t look like it will be spared of warm temperatures and rain.

So tomorrow will be the last morning to enjoy the winter wonderland for now. How much will be left? Who knows. But hopefully the snow soon returns and there are plenty more weeks of skiing here…

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
14mm
ISO 100
f 9
1/40 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #476 – Clear Sky Quiet Sky

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Photo: Clear sky – quiet sky: barely visible aurora on clear winter night, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 15, 2022. 20:12

After weeks of high aurora activity but mostly cloudy and stormy conditions on Lofoten, a perfectly clear night finally arrived! But unfortunately, the aurora did not…

Clear sky, full moon, and fresh snow. Everything that would make a perfect night of northern lights. Except, other than a barely visible glow low on the horizon, the northern lights never arrived. Which was expected, as after a moderately active month with lots of high KP auroras dancing behind the clouds, the sun has grown in the last days.

But it can be a bit frustrating sometimes. If the clear sky had been just 2 days earlier, it would have been an epic night! But that is part of the aurora photography game. And even living in the arctic, a fair amount of luck and good timing is still needed.

Luckily, there are 2 months left in this winter’s aurora season – so 60 more nights to go out looking for the tricky lady dancing across the northern sky…

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 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 1000
f 2.0
1.6 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #475 – Sea Eagle In Flight

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Photo: Sea eagle in flight over Nappstraumen, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 5, 2022. 11:34

Sea eagles are more or less a daily sight on Lofoten. Photographing them, however, tends to be a little more difficult. Although perhaps that is because I don’t consider myself anywhere near any sort of competency with wildlife photography, and usually only make any attempt when a seemly easy opportunity presents itself. Which in the case of sea eagles, happens on occasion.

Usually, they can be seen sitting on coastal rocks as one drives around. But as soon as you come to a stop, they’ll quickly fly away. The best opportunities I have is a rock they frequent on the road to my house, where I can drive past and park out of sight around the corner, then do my best to sneak up without being seen. Sometimes I’m successful, but usually not!

Driving home on a windy day last week, I noticed one eagle sitting on a small rock and another coming into land as well. I stopped my van and waited for a second. They didn’t fly away. Not having my camera prepared, I had to reach to the back of my van to grab it, and put on my 200-500mm lens, which was even further back in my van.

By now the first eagle had taken off, but the 2nd was still hovering almost parallel to me, fighting against the strong southern wind coming up the Nappstraumen. Rolling down my window, I was able to shoot from inside my van, as the eagle floated up and down in the wind. It soon landed for a second, but I think then decided the rock wasn’t really that nice of a place to rest, and took off again, this time slowly flying off around the corner.

Overall, I had maybe 3-4 minutes of being stopped with at least one eagle present, which is quite a long time! Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared – I’m usually more watchful during the spring time when they are sitting around more often – and half that time was getting my camera setup. And it was quite dark and cloudy overall, so I needed and ISO of 1000, and really should have gone higher, as even at 1/800 second, there is still a bit of motion blur in the shot, as the eagle was bouncing around in the turbulent wind gusts.

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 200-500mm f/5.6
500mm
ISO 1000
f 5.6
1/800 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #474 – Missed Solar Storm

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Photo: Moderate twilight northern lights in sky over Storsandnes beach in early evening, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 2, 2022. 17:54

Wednesday’s clear skies and an incoming CME (coronal mass ejection) and prediction of G-1 solar storm is always an exciting forecast for Lofoten. More so after weeks of wind and mostly cloudy weather – though with northern lights to be found if one put in the time and effort. But a clear night sky is always something to look forward to, and seem like a somewhat rare treat in recent years.

With the aurora forecast in mind, I prepared and early dinner for myself at 17:00. When I next looked out the window into the still fading twilight around 17:30, I could see the first hints of green in the darker parts of the sky. Quickly getting dressed for the cold temperatures I was soon alone at Storsandnes beach shooting the aurora with still a little glow left on the horizon – a situation more common in early autumn or late winter, as normally, the northern lights are not out so early as this night.

Despite the early start to the evening, the aurora eventually began to fade and I headed home to warm up and wait to see what might happen later. But later never really came. There were a few small flareups from time to time, but not enough to take me from the warmth of my house. Looking at the aurora data, I could see that the solar energy had mostly faded. The solar storm would likely not arrive. And so I went to bed.

Waking up in the morning, I checked the solar data again. Now the storm had arrived! But not for Lofoten, unfortunately, as the day was already beginning to break. But those in Canada and Alaska were probably getting a nice show.

The same scenario receded itself yesterday (Thursday), with northern lights becoming visible as soon as the sky was sufficiently dark, yet fading away early. A few bigger flare ups occurred later in the evening, but by then, the sky over Lofoten was already heavily clouded, waiting the arrival of today’s blizzard like conditions…

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 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 2500
f 2
2 seconds
WB Daylight

Aurora data at 18:42 Wednesday evening.

Aurora date at 08:35 Thursday morning.