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Friday Photo #603 – Trashing Lofoten

Photo: Bags of trash left in open at parking near popular beach area, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 20, 2024. 17:15

This is one of those articles which I don’t like to, and shouldn’t have to write. But I unfortunately do.

It is peak tourists season on Lofoten here in late July and the streets are full of traffic and in the evenings it seems every possible roadside pullout is filled with motorhomes and camper vans participating in Norway’s generous camping laws. This summer will likely be the busiest ever on Lofoten, and the pressure among the local community can be felt. While there are always the usual summer ‘tourist chaos’ articles in the local newspapers, the intensity, and frustration among a small, but vocal portion of the local population seems quite high this year.

Much of the frustration stems from the failures of the Norwegian government to adequately deal with the increase in tourism – increases that the government itself has promoted. There is no tourist tax of any sort in Norway. Lofoten was supposed to be a trail program of some sort, but so far nothing has been implemented. This leaves small municipalities of 1000 people to more or less fend for themselves and supply the infrastructure for 1 million visitors. Moskenes municipally is one of the poorest in Norway and has been on a special government oversight list for more than a decade. Norway might be rich, but Lofoten isn’t.

The same applies to the roads and tunnels of Lofoten. The E10 might be an European motorway, but much of it feels like some small country road in the middle of nowhere that receives little traffic. Already this summer there have been multiple car crashes (and fatalities), in which the poor standard of Lofoten’s roads are likely a contributing factor. In the Nappstraumen tunnel which I pass through almost daily, I regularly see glass and plastic in the roadway from vehicles hitting their mirrors together – and last summer I was even directly behind one such incident which sent glass flying all over my van.

I could go on and on with the reasons the local population feels frustrated. But now I will switch to when I get annoyed: laziness and self entitlement.

Road trips in my van or a rented van is my preferred way to travel. I regularly travel around northern Norway and have made several (rental) van trips to Scotland over the last years. I reference Scotland, because it too has similar ‘right to roam’ laws as Norway’s Allemannsretten.

One thing I would never think of doing is just leaving my trash on the side of the road in some isolated area. And as much as possible I attempt to dispose of any garbage in convent area for the local services, and not some hard to reach location where trash collection might be infrequent. If I had enough room to carry the trash to a location, I have enough room to take it back to where it was purchased.

The picture here is what ended up being left in at the parking for Myrland beach over the course of a week or so. Inside was packaging from Germany and Sweden (and Norway). If you can carry a water bottle and tin of beans 3000km from Germany, it can be taken a few more kilometres down the road to the nearest trash bin. This is pure laziness and selfishness. You have camped for free in a beautiful location, and then just leave a bag of trash for someone else to deal with. WTF!

The people who left the trash here will likely never read this or even care. Nothing can get in the way of their convenience and laziness. But many such situations happen daily on Lofoten. And the local population is becoming frustrated. I will not be surprised if there is a total ban on van/motorhome camping implemented within the next few years, ruining the ‘wild’ Lofoten experience for all future people, just because a few inconsiderate people have been too lazy to take away their own trash…

Please enjoy your free camping in beautiful Lofoten. But don’t expect me or my neighbours to clean up after you. Leaving no trace is a key part of the freedom of Allemannsretten. If you are leaving trash, then you are abusing Norway’s generosity.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
31mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1/640 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #602 – A Sea Of Fog

Photo: Looking across a sea of fog concealing the village of Napp, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 17, 2024. 00:52

It has been hot the last days here on Lofoten with full days of sunshine and blue skies. The other day on the way to hike Skottind I ended up in a conversation with one of the nearby residents who said this has been the best summer since 1955! I’m not sure how true that is, though it has definitely been above average in my opinion. But…

As I wrote a few weeks back in Friday Photo #599, there is one thing that the weather forecasting doesn’t account well for – the nightly fog monster which envelops the lower elevations on Lofoten’s northern coast. So while the weather forecasts is accurate of Leknes and other areas that avoid the fog – hot sunny days can always be a bit risky on the northern coast.

I was planning on posting a nice image of one of the last nights of midnight sun taken earlier on this evening, but I think this image is a good example to show how much difference just a little bit of elevation can make – the fog here is concealing everything below 150m or so.

This whole evening it had been t-shirt weather as I was photographing up in the mountains of Flakstadøy. Below me though, I could see the fog concealing the landscape and blocking out any views of the midnight sun for the many people camped at Storsandnes beach as I drove by earlier in the evening.

On my way back home, the route descended into the fog you see here. The temperature dropped immediately as I entered into the mist and visibility was limited to 20 meters or so. Quite a contrast from a sunny, perfect summer evening in the mountains.

If I was camping, I would have much rather been up in the mountain sunlight than in the cold fog down on the beach.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
44mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/8 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #601 – Sunset Season

Photo: Midnight sun illuminates the sky over the northern horizon, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 11, 2024. 01:00

The midnight sun is getting noticeably lower on the northern horizon and by next week it will once again touch the sea for the first time since May. And while the atmosphere of the seemly endless days will soon be gone, that is a good thing, as the next ‘season’ arrives on Lofoten: Sunset season.

Late July and into early August is when the sun just below the northern horizon during the midnight hours. If the weather cooperates, this is then the time of hours long, all night sunsets. Light for photographers which is far better than the midnight sun itself – which is more similar to a several hour long golden hour light. But it late July, the fiery sunsets arrive, where the sky glows for hours and hours while most of the world is sleeping.

One of the unique things about Lofoten, and the arctic in general, is that the sun is above the horizon all 360˚ of the compass. This also means that the sun rises and sets on all 360˚ of the compass. In other words, depending on the time of year, you can have the sun rising or setting in any location you want in the landscape. For a landscape and mountain photographer, this is useful for having nice light on certain mountains, no matter their orientation – you just need to calculate and plan ahead for where you wan the sun to set. So for many locations on the northern side of Lofoten, the coming weeks will be some of the best time for photography before the sun then travels too far south in the sky.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
59mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/250 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #600 – Simply Summer

Photo: Summer wildflowers glow in the endless light of the midnight sun, Myrland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 2, 2023. 02:13

Friday Photo #600. That is a lot of articles about a small set of islands on the edge of the world. I’m not even sure myself how I have managed so many words about Lofoten. At times I have thought about slowing down or even giving up, but I know once I do, then life will bring too many other distractions. And missing one week will become two, then a month, then six months… So forcing myself to post once a week still seems like the best option at the moment. So next week will be Friday Photo #601.

July means summer season is in high gear here on Lofoten and the rest of Norway. The nights are still endless as the midnight sun remains in the sky for another few weeks, with then leads into one of my favourite times of the year – the twilight nights.

Again this week is photo from last year, on a nice July evening. I’ve, fortunately or unfortunately, continued my absence from home during the last week as I was guiding a midnight sun photo workshop exploring the Helgeland coast and Islands south of Bodø. After that, I’ve mostly been stuck in front of the computer, despite some nice light and weather outside the windows.

Looking for which image to post this week, I was looking for something from the first week of July anytime in the last couple years. And for whatever reason, I seem to take more or less a similar image to this every year in early July. I guess it’s just the way the light and the flowers happen to be at this time of year as I wander around the neighbourhood in the early morning hours. Or maybe I’m always looking to show how nice summer is at this time of year. I don’t know, but I found it sort of interesting.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
46mm
ISO 100
f 5.6
1/200 Second
WB Daylight

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