Friday Photo #590 – Northern Lights Over Nappstraumen

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Photo: Northern Lights swirl in the sky over Himmeltindan, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 19, 2024. 23:38

The nights are now no longer fully dark on Lofoten, and that means the northern lights season has come to an end. But don’t worry, it will be back soon as the next season begins already in late August, only 4 months away.

For Lofoten, the northern lights season is roughly: August 20 – April 20

Last year, the season started early for me and my first aurora sighting was in the early morning hours of August 19 while on Værøy. This was the earliest in the year I’ve seen northern lights on Lofoten.

Overall, I spent much of the autumn and winter traveling down south in Germany, Scotland, and Spain. So I was gone for most of the first half of aurora season here on Lofoten, and I know I missed some good nights! Luckily I was also around for some good nights, the best two being December 1 and March 3 while guiding on Senja.

It was also a difficult winter at times, with lots of cloudy weather over Lofoten, and, despite all the media hype about the approaching solar maximum, a largely quiet sun for much of January and February. So even when the clouds parted, there was not always something to see.

This image, from January 19, was one of three nights of clear sky and moderately active northern lights. I was mostly focused on getting the 5th edition of Seasons on Lofoten – Winter eBook out before the start of the winter photography season, so I didn’t travel from home. But luckily I don’t have to go too far for a decent image light this one.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 200
f 2
2.5 Seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #589 – Willow Ptarmigan

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Photo: Willow Ptarmigan – Rype walks across snowy field, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 18, 2022. 17:01

The long days of mid April bring an ever increasing level of activity to Lofoten as the migratory birds arrive and fight over mates and nesting locations. Though the willow ptarmigans – rype in Norwegian – live on Lofoten year round, they also increase in liveliness during the spring and their calls begin the fill the air.

Usually in winter, my only knowledge of their presence is a set of fresh tracks in the snow. But by April I can hear the males calling out as the fly around the neighbourhood. If I hear one near by house, I’ll often times try to sneak out a get a few photos before they fly away. Sometimes they are patient, other times not.

I still have yet to get a nice image of a fully white rype in a full winter landscape. I guess I’m not that dedicated to wildlife photography! Maybe I should try before all the snow melts…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6
500mm
ISO 500
f 5.6
1/1600 Second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #588 – Snow On The Roof

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Photo: Snow covered roof tiles, Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 14, 2024. 10:05

Gentle snow had been falling all morning, brining winter back to what had previously been a dry looking Lofoten. Walking out of my cabin mid-morning, I noticed the snow had created a nice abstract patter on the roof of the cabin opposite mine.

I first shot a wider angle version, but switched to a telephoto lens for a more detailed shot, which I like better – as there is too much visible in the wider shot. Its a bit more abstract than what I usually post here.

As the snow continued to fall, the gaps between the tiles became filled in and the roof was eventually entirely white, and uninteresting.

Camera Info:
Nikon z8
Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
290mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1/250 Second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #587 – 12 Seasons

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Photo: Snow blows across Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 24, 2024. 08:59

There is somewhat of a joke about Lofoten actually having 12 seasons during the year, instead of 4. And you can probably guess already, that most of the additional seasons are due to the long winters, and our optimistic hope that a nice and calm sunny day might mean winter is finally over. But nope, it isn’t over…

The 12 seasons of Lofoten are:
Winter
Fool’s Spring
Second Winter
Spring of Deception
Third Winter
Allergy Season
Real Spring
Summer-ish
Actual Summer
False Autumn
Second Summer
Actual Autumn

Today’s photo of a snowy Haukland beach at the end of March is when Second winter made a return. Just a few days earlier the landscape of Lofoten looked hopeless and dry, and largely barren of snow. On the calmer, sunny days it was even enough to walk around in a sweatshirt most of the time. Fool’s spring.

Now the temperatures have dropped and the coldest day of the last month was -9.5˚c on March 28. Good news for all the ski tourists here for the long Easter holiday week. Bad news for everyone else that is waiting for the first signs of green and the long days of summer.

Now with the long days of April, Winter is long from over here on Lofoten, and the snow will likely continue to fall for the next weeks and into May. Eventually the snow will stop falling and we’ll have Spring here in the north, yet never quite sure if another Winter is waiting around the corner.

Camera Info:
Nikon z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
16mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/200 Second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #586 – Season’s End

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Photo: Last workshop aurora of 2024 winter season, Gimsøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March, 24, 2024. 22:44

After 7 back to back workshops starting on January 31st, my winter guiding season has finally come to an end as I dropped off my last guests at Evenes airport of Tuesday, narrowly missing a multi-hour road closure on my drive home due to a truck stuck on the road in heavy snow around the Lødingen area. Now I can sleep!

As usual, this winter gave us all the varieties of weather. The most significant of which was the storm ‘Ingunn’ on the 1st of February, the most powerful storm to hit Lofoten in decades. My group was supposed to drive from Tromsø to Senja on this day, but we delayed the drive day, as it would simply not be safe to be on the roads in a full blizzard.

The rest of the winter was also filled with the occasional delayed or canceled flights from the ‘normal’ winter conditions, some closed roads here and there, snow, rain, more snow, and more rain and a seemingly endless amount of clouds. There is no predicting the winter weather and some groups got lucky with a full week of ideal winter weather, while other groups were stuck with wind, sideways rain, and a flat grey sky.

The northern lights were also somewhat shy this year – though this is largely related to cloudiness of this winter. While I managed to get every group a glimpse of the aurora, with one group it was down to the final hours before departure. Other weeks were more lucky, particularly my Senja group in early March, which had some amazing dancing auroras on several nights. Again, no predicting, just luck…

Despite a not-great weather forecast, my last group was on the lucky side, with aurora on 4 nights out of 8. Though only one of these nights was fully clear. On this last night, we headed out to GImsøy to hopefully find some clear sky as it had clouded over in Kabelvåg where we had started the night. Luckily a nice hole in the clouds opened up just as the aurora began to rain a curtain of light down on us. Shortly after the aurora faded and the clouds closed in.

Camera Info:
Nikon z8
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 1600
f 2
2 Seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #585 – Snow On The Water

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Photo: Snow patterns form on the sea outside Reine Rorbuer, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 14, 2024. 15:05

In contrast to the deep cold of March 2023, March 2024 has been a largely mild and dry month. As of my writing, only two days this march will have had an average temperature below 0˚c, with most days a few degrees above. Compared to 2023 when March had an average temperate of -3.3˚c, these feel like two different seasons all together. And why it is so difficult to make any predictions about the weather in Lofoten.

During my second to last workshop of the winter, a spring-like looking Lofoten changed to a winter wonderland over the course of a single day of heavy snowfall and low winds. Here, later in the afternoon, the snow can been seen freezing on the top of the sea in Reine harbour, just outside our cabins at Reine Rorbuer. While earlier in the winter there were some days of the sea surface freezing itself in the low temperatures, that was not the case here, as the temperature was only around 0˚c and not enough for the sea to freeze. The patterns on the water here are from a combination of the heavy snow and still wind. More wind or less snow and this scene would not have existed.

And so while this was a bit of an indoor day for this group, the result on the following day was well worth it, as we headed out the door at 05:00 for sunrise on a summit to sea snow covered landscape, which had not existed on Lofoten for several weeks at this point. But that is how winter on Lofoten is these days, less predicable than ever, while one hopes for the best…

Camera Info:
Nikon z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
20mm
ISO 200
f 8
100 Second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #584 – Twilight Aurora

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Photo: Twilight aurora over Myland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 10, 2024. 20:29

It has been a sometimes difficult northern lights season so far this year. When I have more time, I will write a longer article about all the fake news of 2024/2025 being the ‘best aurora season in years,’ and the solar maximum, etc. At the moment, I only have the time to say: Don’t believe all the hype.

I was guiding every day in February without a single day off. And I must say it has been a tough winter this year. Hurricanes, wind, more wind, blizzards, rain, more rain, and even more rain. Though for the previous week we had an early glimpse of spring, with lots of sunshine and mild temperatures. Mild temperatures which means Lofoten has been low on snow for the last weeks, looking more like April or May than March. Which leads me to this weeks photo.

A German TV documentary crew was shooting a bit of footage about me and life on Lofoten, northern lights, ect. And this is supposed to be during winter – which at sea level, Lofoten is not looking very wintry at the moment. So, I decided to take them up to the mountains over my house, as at least that would provide a better winter landscape. Still a little tired from a long winter guiding season, I would have probably just spent the evening sitting around the house. So thankfully, I had the motivation to head up into the mountains, to a location that I’ve always thought to visit for aurora, but never actually done so.

And luckily for us, Miss Aurora cooperated as well, already showing up in the evening twilight of mid March. The aurora got much brighter as time passed, but I actually like this image of earlier in the night, with a little glow still on the northwestern horizon. Overall, it was a fantastic winter night in the mountains, and even more special to be looking down at my little village in the valley below.

Camera Info:
Nikon z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 1600
f 2
10 Seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #583 – Olstind Winter

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Photo: Olstind winter reflection in Reinefjord, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 29, 2023. 12:35

I often write about how the winter landscape of Lofoten can often be almost black and white. This image of Olstind is a perfect example of that that. Even the water, which can potentially be quite colorful only has a hint of color, as it’s otherwise overly dominated by the reflection of the flat, grey sky. And I always think Olstind looks best with a fresh dusting over snow, so as the main rock face in the center of the mountain doesn’t become too dominant.

I probably should have taken more time when shooting and used a ND filter for a longer exposure of 30-60 seconds to soften up the low cloud on the left side of the image. In this photo, it feels slightly distracting to the otherwise almost perfect symmetry of the scene.

Camera Info:
Nikon z7 II
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
24mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/30 Second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #582 – Svolvær Reflection

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Photo: Winter reflections in Svolvær harbor, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 29, 2023. 19:31

Svolvær is the closest town that Lofoten has to being a modern-ish looking city, with waterfront restaurants, hotels, pubs, boat trips, etc. While Lofoten may not seem to big from an outside perspective, Svolvær is a 150km round trip for me, and so I don’t go too often unless I have a number of requirements which can only be done there. But when I’m in town, I’m always sure to have my camera with me and maybe wait around for a little photography as well.

I forget why I was in town on this particular winter day in late March. But it was a nice calm day and as blue hour approached I wandered around the sleepy harbor area to take a few images.

Camera Info:
Nikon z7 II
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
22mm
ISO 400
f 5
0.3 Second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #581 – Rorbu in winter

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Photo: Red cabins of Eliassen Rorbu on snow covered rocky shoreline of Hamnøy with Olstind in the background, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 25, 2023. 17:07

Cold grey clouds fill the sky over Reinefjord and the mountains of Moskenesøy. A very typical winter day on Lofoten. No color, no dramatic light, just the blue and grey tones of the flat winter light and an almost black and white snow covered landscape.

These colourful red rorbu cabins on Hamnøy are perhaps the most photographed in all of Lofoten – usually from the bridge which is just off to my left. With a layer of fresh snow covering the rocky shoreline, I like this composition as well as I feel it better simplifies the balance of the cabins and mountains – particularly in this flat light.

Many initially think the cabins were painted red to brighten up the look of the villages in winter. This is not the case. The real reason is much simpler: red paint was the cheapest. And so the rorbu cabins for the fishermen and the barns for the farmers are painted red. In contrast, in the traditional fishing harbors of west Lofoten, you will often see a large white house on the top of any hill above the harbor – this was for the family which owned the village/harbor in the old days. The rorbu cabins would be rented by fishermen during the winter fishing season.

There aren’t as many fishermen anymore, and many live full time on Lofoten anyhow. So now these cabins are for tourists. Several of my groups each winter stay in these exact cabins – so it’s not bad to walk out the front door and have some nice pictures available within a minute of walking.

Camera Info:
Nikon z7 II
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
37mm
ISO 31
f 9
60 Seconds
WB Daylight
6 stop ND filter