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 #671 – Eggum Waves

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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

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Friday Photo #670 – Autumn Tree

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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

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Friday Photo #669 – Cormorant Sunset

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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

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Friday Photo #668 – Unstad Storm

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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

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