Photo: Northern lights rise into the sky over Stamsund, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct 8, 2011.  23:14

Good things (sometimes) come to those who wait.  In my case, this was my last night of a 2 week trip on Lofoten.  A trip which thus far the northern lights had failed to appear.  For the most part it had been a fairly stormy and turbulent autumn on the islands, with only rare moments of clear skies.  But on this final night in Stamsund, the weather calmed and the sky cleared.  I could sense something would happen.

It was a small group of us left at the hostel and as usual were spent our evenings sitting around the table, warmed by the fire and hopefully some good food in our stomach (on this evening, young Nicola, the wandering French chef, had prepared quite a feast for the group as an end of season party).

Well after dark we heard a knock at the window, followed by ‘come outside quickly!’  Everyone rushed to put on their jackets, grab their gloves and head out into the night.  Me, I had to run to grab my camera and tripod.

Entering the darkness of the night, the sky was filled with green.  I immediately climbed the hill behind the hostel, and then headed out to the coast, joined by Nicola.  Roar took the others out on the boat to watch from the calm waters of the Vestfjord as the aurora danced and filled the sky in every direction.  Another one of those moments where I wish I could have had 10 cameras!

This was my best night of northern lights to date.  My next best night occurred again on October 8th, the following year, where I was unfortunate enough the be aboard the Hurtigruten while sailing across the Vestfjord and northern lights filled the sky from horizon to horizon.

Camera Info:
Nikon D700
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
24mm
ISO 1250
f 3,2
15 seconds
WB Daylight

Photo: Afternoon light over Vik and Haukland beaches from the summit of Holandsmelen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  26 Sept, 2013.  17:30

I almost didn’t head up Holandsmelen on this afternoon, preferring to be a bit lazy, as I didn’t get much sleep up on Reinebringen the previous night.  But as the hours of the day passed by, the weather was too good to be wasted just sitting around.  So in mid afternoon I decided to head up Holandsmelen.

I didn’t know anything about the mountain or if the views would be much good.  Rising to the north of Lenkes’ urban sprawl, I knew the views towards the south would probably not be very interesting.  But with close proximity to some of the beaches on Vestvågøy, and looking like an easy hike, why not?

I like to be on mountains for sunset.  But I also like to catch the last traces of daylight, incase it works better for a given location.  Upon leaving Stamsund, I couldn’t see that there was something of a layer of clouds on the northern horizon.  I hike fast, but by the time I reached the summit, the beaches were in and out of shadow as the sun became obscured by the clouds.  I rushed to find a decent composition as quickly as possible to at least get a couple photos with the beach and farm fields illuminated by the ever sinking sun.  Without the light on the beaches and sea, the image loses too much color and contrast, becoming fairly dull and boring.  But I think I arrived just in time for something interesting to appear.

The Landscape photographer in me wants something a bit ‘wilder.’  More nature, less roads and buildings.  But this is Lofoten, people live here.  And so this is actually something of a typical Lofoten scene: man and nature, side by side.  Even the dead (cemetery towards the left) have a nice view!

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
27mm
ISO 200
f 10
1/100 sec
WB Daylight