Friday Photo #718 – First Snow

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Photo: Autumn snow on the upper half of Himmeltindan, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 9, 2026. 09:29

The first autumn snow has dusted the mountains of Lofoten over the last several days, with this morning’s snow line falling to around 400m and a morning temperature of -0.5˚c in Leknes – the first minus temperatures of the season.

Yesterday was a typical autumn day with passing rain and occasional sleet showers out of the north. I even had a brief moment of graupel as I passed over Nappstraumen on the way to Reine. Overall, the snow line was holding at about 600m on most of the mountains in western Lofoten with ground temperates between 4-5˚c during the day. But overnight, the skies cleared and the thermometer dropped into the minus, remaining so in the morning hours of Friday.

There are many reports of slippery roads today and probably the same the next days until the temperatures rise again after the weekend. I still see lots of European camervans and motorhomes around, most of which with summer tires. Probably best for them to avoid driving in the mornings until the sun comes out. But as I wrote last week (Friday Photo #717), the sun is already low in the sky, and some areas of roadway may no longer receive direct sunlight the melt away the ice. This is particularly true in part of Flakstad, where the E10 is often in the shadow of high mountains on its southern side.

This photo is just a snapshot from my window this morning. I was planning to post something from the Reine area yesterday, but the snow wasn’t as visible, as it was mostly just a light dusting on the higher summit. At least here, one can see that its been cold overnight.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
130mm
ISO 100
f7.1
1/640 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #717 – October Sunrise

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Photo: October sun rises over mountains of Norwegian mainland, Olenilsøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 1, 2025. 07:30

With last week’s passing of the Autumnal Equinox the sun is over half way on its journey towards the Polar Night. The sunrises and sunsets now occur in the southern half of the horizon and as of today, the sun only reaches a maximum elevation of 18.2˚ in the midday sky. It is that time of year where the mountain shadows grow long and cold, and many areas of Lofoten will soon see their last rays of sunlight for the year.

This photo from last year’s autumn photo workshop was one of those mornings where you wanted to look in 10 places at once. And for the most part, I did. I pointed my camera east as the sun began to rise over the Jagged mountains of Steigen, roughly 80 km away across the Vestfjord on the Norwegian mainland. Once the sun rose above the mountains, I turned around and shot the long shadows forming among the much closer mountains of Reinefjord.

Luckily, Lofoten’s sun rises slowly, giving one time to move to multiple locations as sunrise transitions into golden hour. It is usually only the clouds which might otherwise bring an abrupt end to a sunrise or sunset. But on this October morning, there was plenty of time to be everywhere at once…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
210mm
ISO 100
f5
1/1000 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #716 – Autumn Reflection

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Photo: Autumn colors reflect in small pond, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 19, 2026. 16:38

The autumn color feels like it arrived a bit early this year. Luckily most of the leaves seemed to hold during the first høststorm of the season on September 13, while the moderate winds of this past week seem to be taking their toll as peak color seems to have arrived already.

This photo from last weekend was already pretty colourful. And wandering around Hagskaret the follow day, many trees were already past their prime. I won’t have much of an autumn portfolio this year as weather and work have largely kept me indoors, and any 24+ hour period of sunshine was needed for house painting – there hasn’t been much of these!

But I did manage to get away a couple times. This photo is from along Nusfjordveien, which is always a favourite autumn color location of mine in the western half of Lofoten. Even on this day though, low clouds were concealing the mountain tops, leaving me looking for a more subtle type image. Luckily the wind was calm and this small roadside pond offered a decent reflection of the colourful landscape.

The most hazardous part of the journey was navigating the unfortunately high amount of human poops just beyond the small forest along the parking area. The parking area which is a 7 minute drive from the nearest free / open 24 hour toilet at Skagsanden beach.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
101mm
ISO 100
f8
1/25 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #715 – First Storm

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Photo: Wind and waves at Unstad beach during the year’s first autumn storm, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 13, 2026. 15:07

Sunday saw the arrival of the year’s first Autumn storm – høststorm on Lofoten as a low pressure system swept across the islands bringing wind gusts near 30 m/s – 100+ kph and no shortage of sideways rain. I saw a comment from one hiker that their tent was broken during the night, and with still a lot of backers around, I’m sure a few more tents ended up in the trash bin as well.

While a little on the early side, the storm itself was not unusual for Lofoten. And there will be plenty more to follow in the coming months until the weather begins to calm again in the spring of next year.

Luckily, the wind didn’t seem to do too much damage to the autumn foliage, which is beginning to turn quite yellow by now; a little earlier than average I would say. Most likely the result of the cold and grey summer – or as my neighbour mentioned the other day, ‘What summer? It’s been autumn since June…’

Though the swell forecast wasn’t particularly high, at about 4-4.5 meters, I decided to head out to Unstad beach to take a loot around. Unstad is usually one of the better locations for storm watching in Lofoten as the west-southwest swells arrive right into the bay. The wind was blowing strong and I had to hide behind my van to take a few photos while hopelessly attempting to keep my lens dry in the blowing rain.

The light was pretty flat and boring as often is the case. Storms in Lofoten typically don’t look ’stormy.’ Just sideways rain and a flat grey sky. I didn’t stay long.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
71mm
ISO 200
f6.3
1/200 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #714 – Rocket Lauch

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Photo: Isar space agency rocket launched from Andøya glows in the sky over Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 9, 2026. 22:18

As darkness approached the low clouds which had been filling the sky over my neighbourhood cleared. I had the livestream of the launch playing on my phone as I headed a little ways down the road to what I thought would be a good vantage point. With the launch time scheduled for 22:00 in the still fading twilight, I was hoping the rocket would get a bit of upper atmospheric illumination as the booster separated. And it did!

Growing up in southern California, I’m not a stranger to rocket launches, which occurred on occasion from the airforce base a little ways north. And now, they occur with even more frequency, as it’s used as a launch site for Space X rockets, but that has only occurred in recent years.

Back in the day, I only had a few chances to shoot twilight launches, the last of which being 2002 – the photo below. Probably shot of Fuji Provia 100, I remember heading up into the mountains above town after class to photograph the sunset timed launch. Back then, everything was a bit of guesswork, but I ended up with a couple nice images. Though now of relatively poor quality by today’s standards.

So for last weekend’s launch, I more or less knew what to expect, or at least what I was hoping to see. I thought I put myself in a good location for the rocket itself to launch from behind the mountains. But I should have gone another kilometer down the road to better place the rocket’s upper atmospheric glow closer to the moon, as in this image, it feels like it’s already heading out of frame. I like the addition of the moon in the image, but it was also hard to place in the scene without also feeling too out of balance.

While not perfect, it sounds like there will be some more chances in the future, as this launch went perfectly.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 400
f4
4 Seconds
WB Daylight

Photo: Twilight rocket launch from Vandenberg afb over Santa Ynez mountains, California. 2002

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Friday Photo #713 – Olstind Aurora

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Photo: September Northern Lights rise into the sky over Olstinden mountain peak, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 29, 2025. 00:43

Lofoten’s aurora season has already started for the year, though the weather has so far often been less than cooperative, offering only a few short glimpses so far. But this year, something far beyond the weather is threatening the northern lights below Olstinded in Reinefjord; plans for a new fish farm in Vorfjorden, at the base of the mountain.

One of the more difficult aspects of northern lights photography is finding a location without too much light pollution. Lofoten overall is pretty good for this, compared to Tromsø or Senja, for example, and many of Lofoten’s beaches make for ideal aurora shooting locations. In the western half of Lofoten, Reinefjord is also one of Lofoten’s better aurora locations, with little light pollution in the back of the fjord, where Olstinden rises high into the sky, making it an ideal composition.

Unfortunately though, this image may soon be a thing of the past as Moskenes municipality and Mattilsynet (food safety authority) have already given approval for a planned cod farm in Vorfjord below Olstind. Now the fish farm is waiting for the response from Nordland county.

Should it be approved, it interfere with some of the nicest views in Lofoten. And not just beside the fjord for northern lights, but also the view from Reinebringen – northern Norway’s most popular hike.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 1600
f2
6 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #712 – First Aurora

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Photo: First visible northern lights under full moon in late August twilight sky, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 28, 2026. 00:01

I was hesitantly optimistic as the sky remained clear into the fading twilight of late August. The sun’s activity was low and a full moon was adding more illumination to the already not-that-dark August night. But shortly before midnight a faint green began to appear over the northern horizon. My first aurora of the 2026-2027 northern lights season.

Had this been April, I probably would not have even bothered going out. But the first aurora of Lofoten’s 8 month long aurora season is always something I like to photograph, mostly as a record of time and place.

I had already walked home from the beach when I looked out again to an overhead corona slowly moving across the sky, a hint of magenta on the upper edges. With no decent composition available, and iPhone photo would suffice for this brief moment. There will be plenty more nights for the real camera over the coming months…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 1000
f2
2 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #711 – Sun’s Farewell

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Photo: Late August setting sun about to return behind the mountain as summer fades, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 19, 2026. 20:40

I have not seen many sunsets this summer. And in a few more days the sun will return to setting behind the mountain as summer begins to fade from Lofoten. Looking at the weather forecast, this image will probably be my last setting sun until it returns again in April next year. Until then, my valley will receive no more northern sunlight in the evenings.

I can already see a moderate amount of yellowing of the birch leaves beginning to occur on my drive into Leknes. They have closed the Nappstraumen tunnel again for free flow of traffic – now it’s back to a leader car with one passage per hour in each direction. And the first Northern lights have already been seen in the darkening night sky.

Summer is over and Autumn has made an early arrival. Though looking back, this year’s summer has already been over since mid June. It is just now that this is little hope it might return.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
37mm
ISO 100
f10
1/500 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #710 – No Eclipse

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Photo: Cloudy sky over Myrland beach during 2026 solar eclipse, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 12, 2026. 19:22

With the sun shining brightly in the mostly blue afternoon sky, I was hesitantly optimistic for a viewing of the solar eclipse. That optimism slowly faded as layer of clouds pressed in as the eclipse was just about the begin. I could feel the sky darkening, was it the eclipse or the clouds, or more likely both.

Nevertheless, I headed down to the beach for a quick photo anyways. Of what could have been with slightly different timing. And of course, after the eclipse had ended, the clouds cleared and the sun was hover over the sea.

Other areas of Lofoten had better luck. And of course my Instagram feed has been filled with amazing photos from Spain and other locations. Maybe in the future I should try and plan a little better, as I’ve never actually photographed a solar eclipse, and am not even quite sure I’ve seen one, at least not for the last 20 years or so.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
18mm
ISO 32
f9
1/2 Second
WB Daylight
3 stop ND filter

Photo: Using PhotoPills app to visualize what could have been. It would have an interesting shot I think.

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Friday Photo #709 – Summer Fireweed

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Photo: Late summer fireweed, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 1, 2026. 15:14

Already a week into August and it is starting to feel like the year that summer forgot. The last time the temperature broke 20˚c in Leknes was June 11 – though there were a couple close days in July.

I’m now starting to get that subtle sense that Autumn is soon on its way to Lofoten. Despite the cool temperatures, the fireweed feels ahead of schedule this year and mostly has already reached it peak by now and is beginning to fade away in some places. This is usually a sign to me that the last days of summer are here.

And despite being cool, wet, and grey most of the summer, it feels like there has been a shift in the weather. The light, and the clouds, and the wind move differently. It doesn’t feel like the islands are warming up for summer any longer, but preparing for winter. And indeed, the first northern lights of the season are only a couple weeks away now.

Here was some roadside fireweed from last during a quick stop on the way back from Henningsvær. I’ve actually been moderately busy with guiding this summer, but have hardly touched my camera. Since getting back from Scotland in the end of June, I’ve only taken a handful of photos on 3 separate days. Not exactly a summer spent hiking and camping in the mountains as I expected.

Between house work and weather, it has been my least photographically productive summer since moving to Lofoten 10 years ago. Though this is not to say that my photography has slowed down, I’m taking more photos than ever, but most of this is now outside of Lofoten. Perhaps it’s time to find the time to start up my old travel blog again at codyduncan.com.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
34mm
ISO 100
f5.6
1/640 Second
WB Daylight

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