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Friday Photo #683 – Windswept

Photo: Winter winds blow over Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 2, 2025. 11:48

But where are the mountains? Yes, there should be mountain in the background of this image, except at this moment in the middle of a passing snow shower, there aren’t. Or well, the mountains are there, you just can’t see them. Only a bit a patience, and understanding of Lofoten’s weather will determine if you leave the windswept beach or wait things out a little bit. For Lofoten in general, patience is often the key. Or perhaps experience is the key, as in the moment of this photo, all views seem lost. Should one stay, or walk away?

It is probably because of the false illusions of social media that many now expect almost every moment to be perfect. We want perfect scenes of a perfect snow covered beach and mountains, yet don’t expect to be there when the snow is actually falling and the mountains aren’t visible – that just occurs in some other magical time when we are not present. We only want the results, the scenes of perfection we now see a thousand times a day on social media.

But for a snow covered landscape to exist, it must snow at some point. And that moment might be when you are walking across a windswept beach.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
25mm
ISO 100
f9
1/15 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #682 – Colourful Aurora

Photo: Colourful northern lights fill sky, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 20, 2026. 18:37

This is the following night from last week’s aurora image (Friday Photo #681) and actually a better display than the previous night. The image is looking south towards the colourful aurora filling the southwestern sky over Lofoten, though not long after was full overhead corona filling up the entire frame of my 16mm lens.

Unfortunately for me, the beach by my house doesn’t work well for southern oriented northern lights in general. And the current state of the beach is quite messy with seaweed from the recent winter storms. Ideally I would have been over at Vik or Haukland beaches, with offer a better view towards west and southwest auroras, but the ongoing construction in Nappstraumen tunnel make this a tedious journey these days. I could probably get there faster by boat if I had one.

So, while far from my best aurora photo ever, it was a nice and colourful night. With the first of my winter photography workshops starting today, I’ll hopefully have many more nights under Lofoten’s dancing sky over the next two months – Though hopefully I have some time for sleep as well! Last year was a rough season with a lot of clouds, so hopefully this year goes a bit easier.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Viltrox 16mm f/1.8
16mm
ISO 2000
f2
5 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #681 – Red Aurora

Photo: Red Northern lights fill the northern horizon over Lofoten, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 19, 2026. 23:23

On Monday night one of the biggest solar storms in the last 20 years hit the earth, bringing northern lights down to Italy and parts of the southern US. I’ll let the space nerds debate on how strong it actually was, as that is not my field of expertise. But for a high latitude photographer, it was just a bit, ehhh. Bigger and stronger is not always better here in the high north. For mid latitudes of (mostly) Europe, it was possibly a once in a lifetime show, though some of the aurora from 2025 might compete with it. For us up north, the following Tuesday night was a much more active and dynamic show (probably next week’s photo).

Though I must also admit, that for the stronger aurora, which move into the southern half of the horizon, my vantage point on the ‘yttersia’ of Lofoten is not always the best, as I have mountains blocking my view towards the south. And while the red color was quite vibrant, especially in the southern horizon, its was mostly just that, red color. Special, yes. Spectacular, no.

This image is taken from the beach while facing north, probably a bit after the peak activity had passed. While I have seen many nights with a fully green glowing sky, I don’t think I can remember any with a red glow such as this. But Lofoten was actually too far north for much of the more dynamic activity, which produced overhead aurora much further south. The following night the sky really was dancing, as full of color.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Viltrox 16mm f/1.8
16mm
ISO 2000
f2
5 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #680 – Frozen Reinefjord

Photo: Frozen snow covers the surface of Reinefjorden on a still winter day, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 7, 2024. 10:29

It is not often that the surface or Reinefjorden freezes during winter. While the temperatures are often cold enough to do so, it is often the near constant wind rarely allowing the fjord to sit still enough for the surface to eventually freeze. And while the fjord looks frozen and icy in this image, it is actually somewhat of an illusion – it is not ice on the surface, but the accumulation of heavy snowfall which was faster than the water could melt it away.

Ice or not, it still looked quite cool and is a fairly rare sight, especially going so far out into the fjord. It was the lucky combination of heavy snow without the usual accompaniment of wind.

It was quite treacherous actually getting to the shore line from the road, as it is very easy to miss holes in the snow covered boulders leading to the fjord’s edge, so slow precaution is always needed under such conditions. And you also don’t want to slip and end up taking an ice bath yourself.

I had already shot several different compositions, including the edge of the foreground before eventually wandering closer to this nice little crack through the ice to use as a leading line towards Osltind. By now the snow was beginning to fall again and the mountain was slowly disappearing until it eventually faded away for good.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
25mm
ISO 100
f8
1/100 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #679 – Pillows of Snow

Photo: A young birch sapling in pillows of snow, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 14, 2025. 11:52

One thing I sometime miss about the Lofoten landscape is the ability to find a nice lonely tree in the middle of a field or a small isolated grove without too many other distractions. There are a few places around here and there, but most require more effort to reach than I’m able to do on most winter photo workshops. This area is one of the more accessible places, though even the bigger trees are more like bushes, and this ‘tree,’ more like a couple of sticks.

I was actually just shooting a bit of really abstract stuff of just the snow when I decided this little group of twigs might help a little with the scene. It is nothing much, but still a nice abstract moment of winter and snow – which there seems to be less and less of in Lofoten these last years…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
360mm
ISO 200
f6.3
1/500 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #678 – Vanishing Sun

Photo: Vanishing sun in snow storm on Reinefjord, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 13, 2025. 10:13

On this week’s cruise around Reinefjord I could see the large wall of cloud and snow approaching from the north even before the ferry boat left the jetty in Reine. I could see on the radar that it wasn’t too big of a snow flurry, but the winds were calm and it was moving slowly. My only hope was that the clouds cleared by the time the boat reached Kirkefjord, so I could see my favourite mountains in Lofoten.

Not long into the journey the first flakes of snow began the fall, becoming thicker and thicker at the boat headed into the dark cloud ahead. Most people on deck quickly took shelter inside the cabin, while I chose to remain outside in hopes of seeing something interesting.

It would have been better captured on video, but I still like this still image of last moments of sun before it completely disappeared within the cloud of falling snow. My last moments of seeing anything in the outside world before entering a blank void of grey.

The cloud did eventually pass as the ferry reached Kirkefjord, leaving the mountains rising into an eerie misty sky. But I already posted a view from Kirkefjord (though from another day) last week, so no need for repetition…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
120mm
ISO 400
f6.3
1/1600 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #677 – Kirkefjord Reflection

Photo: Mountain peaks rise over Kirkefjord on a calm winter morning, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 1, 2024. 09:51

The inner fjord arms of Reinefjord are some of my favourite areas in western Lofoten. Even if not putting on the backpack and heading out to Bunes or Horseid beaches, the boat journey across the fjord is scenic enough itself. And so, more and more, if I can time the weather for a nice flat day or some otherwise interesting weather, I’ve been taking my winter photo workshop groups on a boat ride around the fjord. On this particular day, the group was lucky enough to have its own private rib boat for the journey, allowing me to stop the boat whenever I saw a nice view.

The dramatic peaks surrounding the small village of Kirkefjord has always been one of my favourite areas on Lofoten. Luckily we arrived to near perfect reflections just as the sun was peaking over the horizon and illuminating the vertical rock face of Merraflestinden.

The fjord is long and narrow, so by February, not much sunlight reaches the inner parts and not long after dawn the sun will already be blocked by the mountains on the western side. So one doesn’t have too much time with sunlight back there so early in the winter.

Despite pretty ideal conditions in this image, it is pretty evident to see what is missing for a winter image from Lofoten: Snow. Lofoten’s winters are not a perfect snow wonderland and rain is frequent. Had the mountains here been covered top to bottom in a fresh layer of snow, this probably would have ended up one of my favourite images from the winter. But no worries, I’ll have several chances to try again next year!

God Jul everyone. See you in the new year…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
20mm
ISO 1000
f5.6
1/320 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #676 – Sea Eagle

Photo: White-Tail Sea Eagle picks up fish from fjord, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 5, 2025. 13:33

In some of my recent photo workshops we are beginning to introduce more activities than just landscape and northern lights photography. The sea eagle safaris out of Svolvær are one of those activities. And as I still consider myself a beginner wildlife photographer, this is probably as much fun for me as for the clients. And much better than standing around on the Hamnøy bridge at sunrise for the XXth time over the previous two months.

And when I say I’m a beginner, look below at my camera info to see that I made some big mistakes with this image. f/18, ouch!!! I could actually see over the sequence of images where my operate got stopped down. The combination of a small rib boat with relatively tight quarters, stormy weather, thick gloves, etc, probably all lead me to accidentally moving the aperture wheel. And in the excitement, it was sometime until I finally noticed and opened the aperature back up to where it should be for a dark winter day on Lofoten. But I used up the best light while still at f/18. Lesson learned for next year.

Luckily though, the denoise option with Adobe camera raw works wonders these days. So even this ISO 12,800 image turned out pretty decent in the end. Leaving me not too depressed with my mistake…

*For transparency, the boat drivers throw fish to the eagles, so this is not a fully wild image.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
165mm
ISO 12800
f18
1/2000 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #675 – Hamnøy Dawn

Photo: Glowing winter dawn over Hamnøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 2, 2025. 07:54

This was one of those winter mornings on Lofoten where it feels like the sky is glowing from within itself. Even a photo doesn’t do justice to the light as you really need to be there, surrounded by it all – the same way no photo can ever show the experience of a dancing northern lights. I rarely photograph from the Hamnøy bridge these days, but on this morning I wanted to remember a bit of the atmosphere from the light.

Otherwise… While there are many places across Lofoten in which calm conditions are usually preferred, such as the other nearby location of Reinehalsen. For Hamnøy, I actually prefer a little more stormy and wild conditions, particularly for the sea and the rocks in the foreground. And even more so when it is low tide, such as this image.

The light on this morning was fantastic, and if you only have the option to visit Lofoten for a week, I would consider this a pretty decent image from Hamnøy. But for myself, I know the foreground, with that just overly large rock, not contributing much to the composition, could have been much better. I’m sure I’ll stand in this exact same spot for many hours over the coming months, so I won’t have lack of opportunities for this Lofoten classic…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
16mm
ISO 100
f6.3
15 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #674 – Fullmoon Aurora

Photo: Northern lights – Aurora Borealis illuminate the sky before a full moon, Skreda, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 14, 2025. 21:04

By now Lofoten’s northern lights season is almost half way over for the year: roughly August 20 – April 20. The bulk of my images will be be shot during my winter photo workshop season from late January to late March. On this evening, my group and already had a few hours of somewhat faint, but colourful aurora at Vik beach, just over the hill from our accommodation at Skreda. It was a cold night afternoon an already long day, so it was an early evening to be back to the cabins by 21:00.

Walking out onto the balcony of my cabin, there was still a nice green arch of aurora shining across the southern sky. The sea was calm and I actually liked the addition of the lights shining on the distant shore. And the nearly full moon added a little depth to the scene. Not the usual snowy mountains or beaches of my typical northern lights photos from Lofoten, but I like this image in a bit more of an abstract way – even more so as I was only 10 meter from my bed.

I still read online quite often the misinformation about not being able to see the northern lights with a full moon. This is absolutely false, as you can see here in this image. Yes, a full moon will reduce the visibility of a very faint aurora that you can already barely see with your eyes. But for any aurora worth photographing at least, the moon doesn’t make too much of a difference, and in fact, often aids in the overall image quality by illuminating the landscape and allowing for lower ISO and shutter speeds.

My main dislike of a full moon comes not from its direct interference with the visibility of the northern lights themselves, but more of what to do with it as a compositional element. In this image, I think the mood adds to the overall scene. But sometimes, the moon just doesn’t fit with where the aurora are in the sky and it’s in some awkward part of your preferred composition. Or, with the moon high overhead, it can cast your own shadow onto the foreground of the scene, leaving you struggling to find a foreground to the image. These are mostly critiques about composition, and not the full moon interfering with the visibility of the northern lights themselves.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
16mm
ISO 2000
f4
3 Seconds
WB Daylight

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