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Friday Photo #445 – Brocken Spectre

Photo: Brocken Spectre in misty clouds from summit of Okstind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 10, 2021. 14:20

In a case of Lofoten’s unreliable weather forecasting, the planned 6-peaks crossing of Flakstadøy that a friend and I had for last Saturday when the forecasted sun arrived in the morning as low, heavy clouds. What we didn’t know, based on our locations, was that the cloud burn-off had already begun from the southern side of Lofoten, resulting in blue sky for most of the island – except my valley of course!

As time passed, my friend headed up into the mountains from Nappskaret, I decided to join from my side and we met in the mountain pass below Stornappstind and Middagstind. What had been a warm and sunny day as I walked out my door turned into a moderate north wind as I reached the pass. Then we both began our way up higher to Jofinnskaret.

Strange things can happen over the mountains in a north wind. And on this moderately warm day, condensation clouds were forming over all the first mountain peaks on the northern side of the islands, resulting in zero visibility. We chose to head to Okstind, which, as far as we could see, was in and out of the clouds as they blew across from Middagstind.

Reaching the summit, we had fully blue sky to the south. While clouds raced in from the north. Half of Stornappstind was visible, while the other half was covered in white. Middagstind was nowhere to be seen. Okstind, was just on the border of clouds and blue, in and out of the mist every few moments for quite dramatic conditions (for the middle of the afternoon).

With the sun high overhead, A Brocken spectre appeared every time the clouds enveloped the summit. Not something I see very often here on Lofoten and worth a windy day in the mountains to experience.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 14-30 f/4
14mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/500 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #444 – Summer Nights

Photo: Warm summer light over Nappstraumen and Skolmen, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 6, 2021. 01:53

The return of the sun after a cold finish to June which I wrote about last week brought a fantastic heat wave (by northern Norway standards) across Lofoten over the weekend – even producing the first of our annual ‘Parking Chaos at Haukland Beach’ articles in the local newspapers on Tuesday – when we reached a temperature of 26.5˚C in Leknes. I would not be surprised if this will be the maximum temperature reached this summer.

And somehow, when the summer heat arrives, so do the people. But this week also corresponded with Norway’s opening to most countries in the EU on Monday. And seemingly overnight, Germans, Dutch, Finnish, and other camper vans are filling the roads here on Lofoten. I really don’t know how so many got here so fast, was everyone just waiting over in Sweden for the borders to open for tourism? So this past week it finally seems that the summer tourism season has arrived, after what seemed like a pretty slow and relaxed June. Perhaps also because the Norwegians have waiting for the borders to open, so they can leave Norway.

And while the blue skies of day are perfect for Instagram selfies and the Friluftlivs hikers, I still prefer the nighttime hours for my photography. And it was too hot for hiking anyhow – I spent my days in the water and getting sunburnt in my backyard. So up late as usual, I took a few photos out my window when a cool, this and wispy fog formed over my valley. I actually probably should have been up in the mountains for this night! Ooops…

But the sun is on its journey south again and once it begins to drop below the horizon in mid July, that is when the magical nights of color happen. So plenty more time to be out and about this summer. Just hopefully with slightly cooler temperatures so I don’t have to carry 4 litres of water up the mountains.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 24-200 f/4-6.3
135mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1/200 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #443 – Sun Is Back

Photo: Mountain peaks of Flakstadøy reflect in small tidal pool, Vareid, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 30, 2021. 23:13

The midnight sun returned to Lofoten last night after an absence of several weeks. Not that the sun has set below the horizon, that is still a few weeks away, rather, Lofoten has been almost constantly covered with a lay of low, grey clouds for almost all of the 2nd half of June. Not unusual in any way, but also not ideal.

But finally, the sun is on the forecast and the temperatures will return to more summer-like levels (at least for us up here) for the better part of next week. For me, that means returning to the mountains again after a several week absence – I just can’t find the motivation at the moment to go hike out in the clouds. I haven’t done much camping yet this summer, so perhaps it’s time to pull out the tent before a bit before the July crowds arrive.

Wednesday I found myself driving around in circles, going all the way to Reine to chase what looked like interesting clouds, though I never found a decent composition. I almost thought about just hiking up Reinebringen, but was a little on the lazy side for that, and the parking lot was already more or less full anyhow. So I began my slow drive back home.

As I passed Ramberg, the sun first emerged from behind a layer of clouds. The first sunlight I’d seen in a while. The beach quickly filled with people, probably also wondering where the sun had been thus far on their summer holiday. Continuing east on my way home, I could see more and more sunlight shining across the landscape. I headed out towards Vikten, but then stopped when I saw the tidal pools near Vareid, knowing I could at least get a decent shot for the day.

I’ve shot this composition several times, and it’s nothing too special. I probably should have setup my tripod and focus-stacked the image so that the foreground rocks would be in focus. Instead I just held the camera low over the water for the fullest reflection and just focused on the mountains. It sometimes seems in landscape photography these days that everything needs to be sharp, but I don’t mind non-essential parts of a composition to be out of focus.

Or maybe I’m just lazy. Which I wish I knew of ahead of time so I didn’t have to drive all the way to Reine, when the day’s photo was just 10 minutes from my house.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 24-200 f/4-6.3
49mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1/100 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #442 – Flowers And Rain

Photo: The look of early summer: wildflowers and rain, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 24, 2021. 15:57

After June’s fantastic start this year, the weather has unfortunately returned to more normal conditions for early summer, with temperatures in the low teens over the last weeks and frequent passing rain showers or overcast skies. Well, Lofoten fared better than the Helgeland coast, where I spent a week in almost non-stop rain – the benefit of Lofoten being out in the sea is that the weather passes quicker, and doesn’t get ‘stuck’ over the islands as long. Although this isn’t always a positive.

But the rain is also what turns the landscape green and fills the fields, meadows, and hillsides with an assortment of wildflowers. Right now, at the end of June and into the first weeks of July is when Lofoten is at its peak of summer color – or what otherwise might be considered spring in more moderate latitudes of the world. This is the time of year I’ve finally been waiting for after the long thaw out from winter. Finally Lofoten has blossomed.

Soon however, during the first week of July, many of the coastal meadows, which are actually farm fields, will be mowed for winter feed for the farmers’ sheep and cows. This scene however, will survive the cutting, but eventually the flowers will seed and disappear. The grass here will still grow wild throughout the summer, waiting until the sheep are brought down from the mountains in autumn, and kept here for a while until they are returned to their barns for winter. Or in the case of the lambs, a less pleasant fate.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 24-200 f/4-6.3
66mm
ISO 100
f 6
1/2320 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #441 – Mountain Clouds

Photo: Misty clouds form over Tverrfjellet after evening rain, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 7, 2021. 06:59

I usually don’t camp too much during June unless I’m heading out to the mountains for more than one night. Otherwise, as its never dark at this time of year, it’s easy enough just to hike back to my van after shooting the midnight light wherever I’m at and have a lighter backpack without camping gear. But on this evening, heading up to Fageråskaret pass, and then continuing up to Markan, I saw that there was a few hours of early morning rain in the forecast, so I brought the tent along for the hike.

The trail out of Selfjord is one of the worst on Lofoten. Unfortunately, it also leads to some of my favorite mountains. I would visit the area much more if the trial were better, but the bog at the beginning, and then the terribly eroded ascent/descent to Fageråskaret always makes for a slightly tedious journey. It has actually be fairly dry on Lofoten for the last weeks, and so I was well tempted to hike back down the pass before the rain arrived. But the photographer in me said it would be better to wait until morning, to see what happens after the rain.

Luckily I was correct to wait, and as the rain finished in the early morning hours, by the time I emerged from my tent around 06:00 (I hadn’t gone to bed until 02:00 – so it was more like a nap than a nights sleep), mostly clouds were moving around the landscape – the exact conditions I thought might happen.

Unfortunately, a layer of high clouds also remained, allowing the sun only to peak through over small areas from time to time. So the light wasn’t as dramatic as I had been hoping for. Sunset the previous evening hadn’t been very spectacular either. But it is one of my goals for the summer to try and be a bit more risky with the weather. Typically, I don’t like hiking in the rain. But I think I need to push myself to do so more, as that is when the potential dramatic light will happen – and if I’m not already on the top of a mountain, then I’ll always miss it! A little rain won’t hurt me, especially here on Lofoten, where you’re often never more than 1-2 hours hiking from the car.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 24-200 f/4-6.3
110mm
ISO 100
f 7.1
1/250 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #440 – After Midnight

Photo: Midnight sun under Fredvang bridge, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 29, 2021. 00:46

The Lofoten Islands are now two weeks into summer’s midnight sun season – and still more than a month away until the sun will touch the sea on the northern horizon again in mid July. Some years it feels like a long wait until summer. This year we have been lucky, with fantastic conditions for weeks! Though now it will be raining for several days – though looking at my semi-brown lawn, I guess we need it!

A late night message of orcas near Hamnøy saw me driving west from home at 22:00. I caught a brief glimpse of them outside of Sakrisøy, but they were moving fast toward the west – and road closure near Reine to widen the narrow causeway that has caused traffic problems for years was underway, so I couldn’t continue to follow them.

But it was a nice May evening as I made my way back home. Crossing Kåkersund bridge, which connects Moskenesøy and Flakstadøy I saw the sun shining over the straight to the north and almost stopped to try and take a photo, but decided on continuing on. Eventually as I made my way along the narrow, winding road of Flakstadøy I could see the sun again, low on the horizon to the north. As I continued and the bridges came into sight, I thought there might be a possibility for an interesting photo.

Luckily, there was a fish factory that I could park in which had the sun almost perfectly aligned under the bridge. In a hurry, I first shot from near where I parked, but the composition wasn’t as interesting, but the sun at that moment had been higher in the sky. As the sun moved eastwards, I had to move to center it under the bridge again. But in only these 5-10 minutes, it had also dropped in elevation.

I now know the timing I need to be there for, so I think I will go back one of these days and try to make a better version of this image with the sun centered directly under the bridge. It seems like it could be a cool and unique image.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6
330mm
ISO 250
f 5.6
1/500 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #439 – Early Summer

Photo: Cloudless summer sky and fresh summer green over Sakrisøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 2, 2021. 14:02

Lofoten is off to a fantastic start to June this year, already with temperatures between 19-21˚C since the start of the month (its only June 4th as I write this, so who knows if the trend will continue.). One needs to go back to 2017 or 2014 for the last time Lofoten had similar temperatures in early June. Otherwise, the average temperature during this time of year is around 8˚C, so not particularly warm.

Normally at this time of year I’m pretty much fully transitioned into ‘Midnight sun’ time, but the occasional day sees me out of the house before noon. On Wednesday I was doing some filming for a friend and found myself in west Lofoten, enjoying the year’s first cinnamon roll at Anita’s Sjømat in the early afternoon. Before heading back I took a quick walk up the small hill overlooking the yellow rorbu cabins at Sakrisøy. Despite a ‘boring’ blue sky, This is what a perfect feeling day in early summer on Lofoten looks like: Azure water, fresh green trees, blue sky, a bit of mountain snow… Paradise. It is days like this that make the months of darkness and bad weather over the winter worth being up here. And even more so because the weather can shift at any time – so we need to enjoy it while we can!

For the island landscape itself though, it will still be a few more weeks until it is finally in its summer appearance. The coastal farm fields have been green and filling with various flowers for several weeks now. However, the wild grasslands and landscapes are still somewhat brown, as the fresh green hasn’t grown tall enough yet. You can see so in the grasses in the very bottom of the image. So it will still be a few more weeks until the wild areas of Lofoten are full of knee high grass and flowers – that is when summer really arrives for me and camping season begins. Although for the farm fields, they will be cut by the farmers for winter feed some time in the first week or so of July – so there is kinda only 2-3 weeks where all of Lofoten’s landscape is filled with grass and wildflowers.

What weather the rest of summer will bring is anyones guess. But for the few tourists and us locals that have been here during the last week, it is about as good as it gets!

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon Z7 II
Nikon 14-30 f/4
18.5mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/320 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #438 – Storbåthellaren

Photo: Looking out over Nappstraumen from Storbåthellaren cave, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 24, 2021. 15:40

Even after 5 years of living and 20 years since my first visit to Lofoten, there are still some places that have eluded me thus far. Perhaps it’s because I usually focus on summits here and save my ‘flat’ walking for Sweden or elsewhere, or maybe I just never got around to visiting for whatever reason. So was a friend asked me if I wanted to join in for their annual spring hike to visit the Storbåthellaren cave, I was more than happy to join along.

Having never been to the area, I did a quick survey of the map and estimated the trail at around 8km or so from Kilan to Napp, along the western side of Nappstraumen. This turned out to be wrong by a good margin, with the total distance being 13km of rocky and undulating terrain. Luckily there was plenty of water along the route, as we were all complaining that the 10˚C sunny spring weather was too hot for hiking and sweating away under the bright May sun. I think this counts as the first hike of summer!

Once reaching the cave, we stopped for lunch, as this was roughly the 1/2 way point of the journey. Even in the shadow of the cave’s entrance, it was still a mild enough day to remain in a t-shirt.

The cave itself is the oldest known residence on Lofoten, with archeological evidence dating back to 6000 years when the first people were beginning to arrive on Lofoten.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/80 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #437 – Midnight Flow

Photo: Midnight sunset over Myrland beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 18, 2021. 00:06

The arrival of the midnight sun is just a few days away here on Lofoten, but already for the last week, we’ve had incredible all ‘night’ light shows. May’s weather can often be hit or miss, its either all good or all bad. This year we seem to have been on the good side, with pretty calm and mild conditions for most of the month. But more important for the photographer, the northern horizon has remained clear on many nights. Which, combined with a layer of clouds over Lofoten itself results in crazy, hours long sunset-into-sunrise during the midnight hours. It’s basically impossible to sleep before 03:00 these days.

This photo is from the evening/following morning of 17th of May, Norway’s national day. The whole day was warm and sunny and perfect for a backyard bbq. While I have little to no view of the sunset conditions during winter, as high mountains block all my views towards to south, I have perfect views of the conditions during summer – especially for what is happening on the horizon. And then even better, I can be lazy and just walk a few minutes to my favourite beach for decent photos. Which sometimes makes it hard to find the motivation to head up into the mountains and wait around for light which may or may not happen, when I can otherwise be completely lazy.

But with summer just around the corner now, last night was my first midnight mountain of the season, with hopefully many more in the coming months!

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 31
f 14
0.6 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #436 – Spring Thaw

Photo: Small waterfall flowing from melting spring snow below the mountains of Flakstad, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 12, 2021. 21:46

It was a strange and mostly snow-less winter in west Lofoten and so much of the lower elevations have been snow free since the beginning of April (minus a quick snow shower or two) but it finally seems the spring thaw is underway in the higher elevations and the small mountain rivers are flowing. The first flowers are in the fields and the lower elevation trees have their first leaves. Higher up though, the landscape is just beginning to grow, otherwise remaining mostly winter-like in appearance.

I always find this a strange time of year for photography. The days are now endless and there has been some interesting light over the last weeks. But I don’t like the brown, winter landscape so much. It just feels a bit dull and boring – especially since I know that the lush greens and meadows full of wildflowers are only a few weeks away. So May always feels like a month of waiting for me: The summer light has arrived, now the landscape needs to catch up. But day by day it does and the fields outside my house look slightly greener each morning and a little more snow has disappeared from the mountains. And with the sun shining bright, it might actually be t-shirt weather this weekend and it looks like the weather will cooperate for a nice 17th of May barbecue on Monday.

This photo is actually 3 vertically shifted image from at 24mm tilt-shift lens. The original cropping is 4:5, but this here is 2:3 – which I normally don’t like in vertical format. However, in the 4:5 crop, the rock on the lower right side of the image felt too large and overpowering. I tried cropping in tighter overall, but then I needed to compromise with getting too tight on the mountains, or loosing too much flow in the water. So out of all the options I had, 2:3 crop seemed the least offensive one to me.

Head over to my Instagram account for (almost) daily postings of the local conditions here on Lofoten: @distant.north

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift
24mm
ISO 31
f 13
0.4 second
WB Daylight
3 image vertical pano

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