Photo: December Rorbu sunset, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. December 1, 2023. 13:08
As Lofoten waits for the arrival of winter’s polar night, the little remaining sunlight may often glow bright on the southern horizon. But what looks like a nice colourful sunset in the above image, was only a small portion of the overall scene.
The following image is the overall scene I was presented with the moment I took the above image. It was a nice and calm December afternoon, but already by 13:00 the light of the day was beginning to fade. Standing in the same position and simply zooming in to 120mm provided an entirely different appearance and atmosphere to the moment.
So is one image more realistic than the other, both taken from the same location only 30 seconds apart. Was it a bright colourful sunset over snow covered cabins? Or was it just a glowing horizon surrounded by a world of blues and greys? Or perhaps both at the same time?
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 24-120mm f/4 120mm ISO 100 f10 1/30 Second WB Daylight
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 24-120mm f/4 24mm ISO 100 f10 1/30 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Car quickly breaks as moose crosses E10 at Storeide west of Leknes, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 17, 2025. 9:21
With the whole of Lofoten covered in a nice layer of winter snow, while I myself am stuck at home fighting off a cold instead of perhaps my first ski trip of the season, its time for my annual winter driving post.
Already, the local newspaper, Lofotposten, has been full of ‘bil i grofta,’ ‘car in a ditch’ articles since the roads got icy last week. And with moderate to heavy snowfall over the last days, the pace of the articles has increased to multiple incidents per day. Yesterday, there was even a headline out of a Tromsø newspaper: (tow truck driver) Pulled the same Chinese couple out of the ditch 7 times in one week. If you are renting a car on Lofoten this winter, I highly suggest getting the full insurance packages, as it is getting very dangerous on the roads these days with drivers who should be nowhere near a car in winter.
The main winter driving hazards on Lofoten these days will be:
Your own driving abilities – Especially if you are new to driving in snow.
Other tourists – Anything from inexperienced drivers driving in the middle/left side of the road (very common), turning the completely wrong way on roads/roundabouts, randomly stopping in the middle of the road, driving on sidewalks, and basically anything else you can imagine. Learn how to recognise other rental cars, as they will be one of your biggest hazards while driving on Lofoten.
Weather – There will be days where you NEED to stay in your rorbu or hotel. Do not put yourself or others at risk, not to see anything but blowing snow anyhow.
Wildlife – Moose are common in the mid and eastern areas of Lofoten, and even more so into Vesterålen and Ofoten. numerous moose vs. car crashes happen every winter. Avoid driving at night when possible.
In this week’s photo I was on my way to drop-off clients at the airport in Leknes when I spotted a family of moose on the side of the road up ahead. Luckily I was right next to the large pullout at Storeide and so I had a safe place to stop – Never stop in the middle of the road! I rushed to put on my telephoto lens as fast as I could before hopefully trying to walk somewhere for a better angle. But before I even got the door to my van shut I could see the large bull moose heading up towards the road, right into traffic. And so I shot a series of images the best I could from my distance. The best composition was unfortunately blocked by a passing car heading towards me. At least this was a decent image to talk about winter driving on Lofoten in this week’s article.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 400mm ISO 1250 f5.6 1/1600 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Misty waves crash along the Eggum coastline, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 2, 2025. 12:06
This was one of those days where the weather isn’t quite as bad as the forecast predicts. After a late night shooting aurora the previous evening, the forecast of a rainy day wasn’t too unwelcome as a bit of rest was needed. But, despite the dreary, grey sky, the rain was mostly staying further out to sea, and so we headed to the sea.
I don’t often take groups to Eggum, as it can be a tricky place to photograph and is highly dependent on what weather and light you arrive to. But with a moderate size swell still hitting Lofoten and the dark sky, I thought it could be a good place for some atmospheric seascapes along the rocky coastline.
I initially started out on the rocky part of the pay just out of frame on the right side of the image, and shooting towards my position here and the mountains behind me. But it wasn’t quite working for me. I wanted to be up higher, and shoot across the breaking waves. And so I walked some distance down the old pathway to the opposite end of the shallow bay.
Here, I had a higher vantage point, and also a better background – the dark mountains of Vesterålen, some 50km away.
Like with most seascape photography, I sat and watched the breaking waves, hoping for the elements to line up across the frame. I was also trying the hide the rocky shoreline before me, as the white-wash was too distracting from the rest of the scene. I stayed for a while, until the misty rain turned into proper rain drops and it was time to head back to the van.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 350mm ISO 500 f7.1 1/640 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Autumn tree and old stone wall, Slydalen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 3, 2025. 15:50
By now the autumn storms have blown the last leaves from Lofoten’s trees and the islands wait for the long dark night of winter to settle in. But only a month ago the landscape was full of autumn color – a short lived, but perhaps Lofoten’s most colourful time of the year – including the nights as well. Of all the season’s on Lofoten, autumn probably passes the quickest, with maybe 3 week of color from Sept 15-20-ish to October 5-10-ish. This year felt a little on the late side, as the temperatures remained quite mild throughout September and into early October. But while the cooling air gets the autumn season started, it is the winds of the first høststorm – autumn storm which bring it to an end as the leaves fly into the sea.
With flat light from a layer of high cloud on this day, I was looking to capture a little autumn color, as I had otherwise not done too much this year. I headed up the old mountain road to Slydalen, now a mostly empty place of long abandoned farms mostly used for summer holiday homes. Some of the trees higher up the mountain were already past their prime, while the main valley remained bright and vibrant.
This old birch tree growing from an old stone wall running through a fallowed field caught my eye. There aren’t many stone walls on Lofoten and to me this scene looks more like an image I might have taken in Scotland. I took some wider compositions as well, with the mountain Blåtind rising in the distance over the valley. But the sky and light weren’t quite right and the scene felt out of balance. In the end, I preferred this simpler shot of just the tree and the wall, together in their surroundings as they probably have been for a hundred years or more.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 220mm ISO 200 f6.3 1/100 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Cormorant spreads wings in front of setting sun, Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 1, 2025. 18:05
I must admit that a clear sky sunset at Haukland beach is no longer the most interesting thing in the world for me and so I had actually left my camera gear in the van as I walked down to the beach with my group. But when I saw a few cormorants sitting on the rock just off the beach, with the sun soon to be heading into the background, I thought there might be an image for me yet. So I ran back to the van, put a 1.4x teleconverter on my 100-400 lens and headed back to the beach – hoping the rest of my group hadn’t scared the birds away yet!
I’ve been drifting a little more towards wildlife photography over the last couple years, but most of that occurs outside of Lofoten, and so doesn’t get posted here. So while most people were focused on the beach, I was happy to see what I could achieve with the cormorants sitting on the rock. There were several compositions I worked with, including a bird directly in the sun itself. But overall, I kinda like the balance of this image the best, although overall, I’m happy with 5-6 different compositions I took.
Luckily, the birds were coming and going on a semi-regular basis. The spread-winged cormorant is a popular symbol on Lofoten and coastal Norway in general. So, keeping an eye on the returning bird, I knew they would eventually spread their wings to dry off in the setting sun. There was also a sitting seagull just out of frame to the right, on the highest point of the rock, which I found somewhat distracting, as it just looked like a blob with a head compared to the standing cormorants. Though this left me not quite happy with where I had crop the sloping rock. The cormorants will be there the rest of the winter, so maybe I’ll try again in March once the sun is high enough in the sky again.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 + 1.4x Teleconverter 560mm ISO 32 f9 1/3200 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Flowing waves at Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 10, 2025. 14:19
Another image from Unstad beach, but this time on a much stormier day than last week’s (Friday Photo #667) image taken a few days earlier. This winds on this day were too strong for any surfers to be out and we were on the edge of heavy rain showers.
This is a pretty similar composition to last week’s photo as I was trying to capture a similar scene or the overall setting of the bay. I wanted to capture the flow of the waves, so I set my tripod next to my van for shelter from the wind, and used a 6-stop neutral density filter to get a longer exposure of 1/2 second.
The idea was good, but I didn’t quite capture the exact image I had in my mind. I wish I could have been 5-6 meters higher in elevation for a better look across the bay and the lines of incoming waves. The right side of the image is a bit boring as well, without much happening. I have a few images from the continuing of the wave, but I think it just wasn’t the best wave overall and perhaps the swell should have been 1/2 a meter higher.
What this image does show is how different the same location can be just a few days apart in the always changing weather of Lofoten.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 24-120 f/4 92mm ISO 100 f9 1/2 Second WB Daylight 6 Stop ND filter
Photo: Breaking wave at sunset, Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 28, 2025. 18:19
The first afternoon of this year’s autumn photography workshop left us with a few hours between the arrival of the first half of the group and the second half, so we couldn’t go too far from Leknes before picking everyone up for the drive to our accommodation at Sakrisøy. Lucky for us, a nice swell was rolling into Unstad bay. And for me, there’s just about no place better on Lofoten than Unstad beach with nice waves. So it was an easy decision to pick our sunset location.
There was a layer of high clouds filling most of the sky, and so I spent the first half of the afternoon/early evening shooting surfers. As time passed by the sun eventually dropped below the cloud layer, casting a golden light across the bay. This light, combined with a strong off-shore wind created a golden spray on the breaking waves.
I should also add that I didn’t have access to my tripod, as one of the clients’ luggage never made it from Germany, so I lent them mine for the evening. This left me slightly limited on what I could do, but I eventually found a scene I was pretty happy with, where I tripod wasn’t needed anyhow. Then it was just waiting for the right wave to break in the right location, with the right amount of wind and hope everything came together. Which I think it did pretty well. Though maybe another partially breaking wave somewhere in the mid ground would have added a bit more depth. Overall, not a bad start to the week…
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 24-120 f/4 76mm ISO 100 f7.1 1/160 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Northern lights over beachside campfire, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 27, 2025. 21:48
I must admit that I’ve been rather lazy as far as northern lights have been concerned this year. Mainly because the weather hasn’t been all that cooperative – even during my hike along a section of the Kungsleden trail in Sweden in mid September and construction along both my road and Nappstraumen tunnel limit times when I’m able to leave my house or where I can access. And there is still a long winter of guiding ahead anyone, with many late nights I’m sure.
But as my friend and co-guide Alex arrived a few days before our autumn photo workshop, the clouds decided to clear and I was shooting aurora Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Saturday was even a nice enough day for my last BBQ of the year. Which makes sense as this September turned out to be the warmest one in Lofoten since 1934! Even now into mid October the weather is unusually mild, though a bit more on the rainy side now. I still haven’t changed to winter tires yet, but most likely will the next time the rain stops for a few hours.
As I shoot aurora at my beach quite regularly, including the previous night, I decided it might be good to do a little more lifestyle shooting and build a fire on the beach. I generally try and avoid any light pollution which might disturb others during northern lights – something that is becoming an increasing problem at many of Lofoten’s beaches as people sit in their rental cars with bright headlights shining across the landscape. But as my village is more or less closed to non-residents due to the road works, there was no one else around this evening.
And so we did out best to stand still as statues for the several second exposures, running back to check the cameras, and then try again. Once the aurora increased in intensity we put out the fire and shot the beach as normal. But I think these campfire images are more interesting, at least for my familiar location.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 18mm ISO 2500 f2 3 Seconds WB Daylight
Photo: View towards Skottind mountain peak from Kollfjellet, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 5, 2019. 17:28
Autumn is short in the north and already by early October the autumn color is slowly beginning to fade from the landscape. The leaves from the trees are the first to disappear, blown away from the frequent autumn storms. the grasses though, remain for a little while longer until they are eventually blanketed in winter’s snow.
I still remember this rainy afternoon hike up Kollfjellet for a few years ago, mostly because I forgot my rain jacket and had to hide under a small rock for a while as a rain shower passed overhead. But eventually the rain ended and I was alone on the broad, grassy summit of the mountain. The main view from the peak is the fantastic view over the colorforl water of Kilanpollen to the north.
On my way down from the summit in the fading light this subtle scene caught my eye. I liked the way the golden grass contrasted with the deep blue clouds to frame the distant mountain of Skottinden in the soft evening light. Just a couple quick photos before I continued my journey down the mountain before.
Camera Info: Nikon D850 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 56mm ISO 100 f13 1/10 Second WB Daylight
Photo: A dusting of autumn snow on the distant Himmeltindan in evening twilight, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 23, 2025. 18:30
Monday’s autumnal equinox brought the official start of autumn in the the northern hemisphere and already by Tuesday morning a dusting of snow had arrived to the higher mountains of Lofoten. a brief moment of cold in what has otherwise been a rather mild, if not hot, September on Lofoten this year, with multiple days over 20˚c. And even the forecast for the weekend is showing 15˚c and sunny skies. Winter is not here yet!
On Tuesday I waited until it looked like the rain had mostly cleared up before wandering down to my beach just for a photo or two. The weather radar over Lofoten had been down, so unfortunately, weather forecasting at the moment is not as easy as normal, and the passing rain showers are just a guessing game. This is probably going to lead to some wet clients in next week’s photo workshop here on Lofoten.
Despite a fair amount of winder of the last week, I was pleasantly surprised to find the beach seaweed-free. The waves were crashing nicely around the rocks and normally I shoot here with a wider angle. But since I was hoping to be able to see the snow on the mountain summits, as little as there was remaining by the early evening, I shot a little longer to give a little more emphasis on the distant mountains. I also wanted to take away emphasis on the water itself, so I decided a long exposure would be better than trying to capture any movement of the waves, which didn’t look particularly interesting at this focal length anyhow. So a 30 second exposure to smooth the water seemed best, which also helped blur the moving clouds as well. I probably could have gone with an even long exposure, but I was simply too lazy to do so…
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 24-120mm f/4 54mm ISO 100 f7.1 30 Seconds WB Daylight 10 Stop Neutral Density Filter
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Other cookies
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:
