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Friday Photo #405 – Indian Summer

Photo: October sun shines through a hazy blue sky over autumn birch trees, Haugheia, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. October 4, 2020. 14:34

After a wet and mostly wild weathered September (with a few windy days), October has brough Lofoten, and most of northern Norway an Indian summer. Since the beginning of the month the temperature has averaged over 12 degrees, about double what it should normally be, with a high temp of 16.2 degrees.

On Sunday afternoon I decided to join some friends for a casual walk up one of the local hill near Leknes – what we jokingly refer to as ‘granny hikes.’ With a hazy, cloudless bleu sky and a bit of wind, conditions were not anywhere ideal for landscape photography. But as is my usual habit, I almost always carry my camera with me anyhow, even if only for a bit of extra exercise.

Initially, a few lone trees against the layered mountain background caught my eye, thinking of some sort of abstract-ish shot at 200mm or such. But I couldn’t find a tree which lined up with the background mountains to my satisfaction. But as I was trying to find a good angle, for one of the trees in the background of this image, the shadows of these twisted branches caught my eye.

I was in a bit of a hurry, with my friends waiting. So I didn’t have too much time to work on the composition – the think the lower left branch is too close to the bottom of the frame, so I should have moved back slightly. But otherwise, I think the empty hazy sky is what allowed this image to work somewhat. Anything else in the sky my have been distracting and taken away from the twisted shapes of the trees. But as it’s only a short walk, maybe I’ll return again for a different version, though I imagine all the leaves are probably gone by now.

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

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Friday Photo #404 – Rainbow Season

Photo: September rainbow over Olstind, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 15, 2020. 12:33

One benefit of all the rain this autumn is rainbows! In general, autumn on Lofoten is what I like to call ‘rainbow season.’ Even though rain can be just as common in summer, the autumn weather patterns seem to produce rainbows on a more regular basis.

With a bit of understanding of the weather and where rainbows occur – opposite the sun, it is actually somewhat possible to predict where a rainbow might occur and use it to your advantage. Or, at least showing up at the right time of day, you can maybe get a rainbow over a mountain like Olstind here in Reine. A couple hours earlier or later and the rainbow would not have been in the same location.

Unfortunately, the bay had been completely still with a nice reflection when I first arrived, but with the rain came the wind, blowing away the calm waters. Still, one of my better attempts at a rainbow over Olstind. With all my autumn tours canceled this year thanks to Covid-19, at least I can try and capture some better versions of this scene – or maybe up from Reinebringen as well. If one thing is certain, there will be plenty more rain in the next weeks…

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
26mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/125 second1
WB Daylight
Polarizer filter

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Friday Photo #403 – Between Storms

Photo: Between Storms – Rays of light shine over Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 22, 2020. 14:49

Lofoten received its first proper autumn storms this week with two back to back storm systems sweeping across the islands on Monday and Wednesday – the highest wind gust I measured from my house on Monday was 35 m/s, just a little over hurricane force which begins at 32.6 m/s. Skrova measured 38 m/s during Wednesday’s storm.

Monday’s storm was the remaining winds from the previous tropical storm Sally and while longer lasting, seemed to be slightly milder than Wednesdays storm – which canceled all the ferries, closed most of the bridges, dislodged boats, sent motorhomes and hot tubs flying off the road, and did some structural damage in some locations. Driving by this morning, I noticed the old torsk drying racks down the road from me are now mostly collapsed – and will probably be completely destroyed by the end of winter.

But while Lofoten was suddenly windy, the islands have been soaked in near daily rain for the last month or so – with seldom moments of clear sky and poor aurora watching. I was even up north on a road trip to the Lyngen Alps and Senja, but decided to cut the trip a week short because I was tired of sitting around in the rain – and there was nothing better to look forward to in the weather forecasts at the time.

Though now it seems we might have a slight break from the wet weather during the next week. Lets hope so! I still need to attempt one final lawn mowing before the winter sets in, but my yard is currently too soggy to do so…

I took this photo on Tuesday afternoon, on a relatively calm day between the two passing storms. The weather had cooled significantly from Monday’s warm southwest wind, and showers of hail were sweeping across the islands – and the first mountain snows of the year were visible on the higher peaks. I did not desaturate this image, but the scene almost appears black and white.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 70-200 f/4
72mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1/800 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #402 – Purple Heather

Photo: Late summer heather bloom, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 25, 2020. 21:01

The purple heather flowers of late August are a sign that summer is soon over. Even the bright fireweed will mostly have faded and soon it will be autumn’s yellows and reds that fill the landscape. While 2020 seems to have sent the world into chaos – and a disaster for me as well with 90% of my income revolving around tourism – we at least had the best summer here on Lofoten since I moved here in the early winter of 2016. So it is ok for it now to be over, I’m content and looking forward to what the autumn will bring.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I’m kinda working on a special ebook project. Not a Seasons on Lofoten – Autumn/Spring, which I’ll probably finally get around to over the winter. But something new and more ambitious.

The weather wasn’t the best this day, so I waited until early evening to finally head out – though there was little chance for a sunset in the heavily clouded sky. There are a few places on Lofoten that I kinda keep as a backup for when I’m both lazy and the conditions aren’t ideal. I shot in this area a lot in the spring during the snowmelt when the rivers were flowing. And now in the last days of summer, I was back again, looking for some composition which might work.

Despite the recent rain, the rivers and lakes weren’t particularly interesting. What caught my eye more was the blooming heather covering the landscape.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
38mm
ISO 400
f 5.6
1/30 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #401 – Kirkefjord Rain

Photo: Merraflestind rising into the rain over Kirkefjord, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 28, 2020. 14:34

The weather forecast was more promising than reality. What showed mostly sun and some clouds turned into mostly clouds and rain. Such is the weather on Lofoten. Even so, I found myself on the ferry from Reine on a Friday afternoon heading out to one of the beaches for the weekend – the ferry has now switched to the winter schedule now, so there are no Saturday departures.

As the boat approached Kirkefjord the next wave of rain arrived. Off to the right was a nice rainbow, but not it any photographic position. More interesting to me was the layer of sunlight shining across the shoreline village with the mountains rising into the dark rainy sky. As the ferry got closer, Merraflestind seemed to rise over the village like some ancient castle. I’ve been here dozens of times over the years, but never quite seen the scene like this before. Worth a quick snapshot from the front of the boat before an afternoon hiking in the rain!

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
38mm
ISO 200
f 8
1/400 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #400 – Autumn Leaves

Photo: Autumn leaves below Stjerntind, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 25, 2020. 20:52

The golden colors of autumn are beginning to take hold in Lofoten’s landscape. Even last week while wandering around near the famous road to Nusfjord the first small changes in the birch leaves were already visible on some trees. And a week later, with a golden sunlight shining across the land, it seems the green of summer will soon be gone. Hiking up on Reinebringen on September 1st, the change in color was even more apparent looking down over the landscape.

The weather was mostly stormy on the day of this photo – like it has been for almost two weeks now since the middle of August. I’m attempting to work on a new ebook – my most ambitious yet. It might actually be impossible, and won’t be finished for at least a year at the earliest, if not two or three.

The result of attempting this project was I needed to go out and shoot this day. It is something difficult, to force yourself to take an image on a certain day with whatever conditions might be present. It’s not normally the way I work, and it will probably present quite some challenges going forward. But at least it will be an exercise is creativity.

This image actually won’t make the cut, I took a better photo a few minutes later. But It was the first autumn leaves I photographed this year. So here it is…

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
62mm
ISO 100
f 4.5
1/25 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #399 – Aurora Season

Photo: First sighting of aurora borealis – northern lights in the sky over Lofoten of the 2020/2021 aurora season, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 23, 2020. 00:50

Anytime after around August 20th the wait for the first aurora of the season begins. The weather has generally been cloudy for the last week and so even with the forecast of a possible incoming solar storm, I didn’t put much effort into looking – as I generally just saw clouds in the night sky.

And so Saturday night I was on my way to bed a bit after midnight and took one last look at the sky while brushing my teeth. Hmm, that could be aurora! I thought as I saw a light streak high overhead in the now somewhat clear sky – though the clouds were quickly incoming from behind the mountains. I ran and grabbed my camera to take a test shot. Green! Yep, northern lights!

Like a rehearsed fireman off to a fire, I was out the door and heading down to my local beach, anxiously watching the sky overhead. The aurora was still there. The clouds were moving in quickly so I didn’t have too much time to think or look for the best foreground composition. I just wanted to get something at all. Luckily the aurora increased for a couple minutes once I began shooting – even forming into this green heart in the sky.

Even at nearly 01:00, the darkest time of the night, you can see the horizon was still glowing bright. I actually think the surrounding clouds in this image help make it better by darkening what might have been an otherwise overly bright horizon.

I saw a dancing corona directly overhead the following night as well, but the hole in the clouds was too small for me to make the effort to go out. But the season has begun! And hopefully it turns out a little better than last year.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 1250
f 2
2.5 seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #398 – Changing Seasons

Photo: Changing seasons – low August clouds sweep across the summit of Olstind, Hamnøy, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 22, 2019. 11:58

Every year in late August there comes a shift from summer to autumn. That’s not to say summer cannot have weeks of grey and dismal weather, which most years there is plenty. But in summer there is alway hope that the sun and warmth will come back again. By mid to late August, that hope begins to fade with each passing day. And as the sun circles lower and lower in the sky, the winds become a little more frequent until that first autumn storm arrives, letting us know summer is really over.

But with the changing weather comes more interesting conditions and the beginning of rainbow season with the more frequent passing rain showers. Though on other days, like it has mostly been since last weekend here, the clouds can be low and dark, and full of a misty rain which coats everything. But at times, even these clouds clear, giving you a hint of the mountains rising above.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
58mm
ISO 64
f 11
30 seconds
WB Daylight
B+W 10 stop ND filter
2 images – top, bottom

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Friday Photo #397 – The Sunsets Continue

Photo: The sunsets continue, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 11, 2020. 22:23

The nights are getting darker, but the fantastic sunsets continue. This has been the most colorful summer that I can remember in recent years. Usually 2-3 sunsets like this would be good. But they have been continuing for weeks this year. Luckily I can just wander down to my neighbourhood beach when I’m lazy, so at least I have some photos of what occurred this year, otherwise I might not believe it myself!

But now, midway into August, I can feel the usual shift in the weather. It is nothing specific, more a sense that the sun is lower in the sky and summer will soon be replaced by autumn. Although the typical August weather here on Lofoten might already be considered autumn weather for countries further south. In today’s image you can see the moody sky which was overhead – luckily the northern horizon remained clear though!

Soon though, my attention will shift from sunsets to auroras, which might become visible anytime within the next week. We are loosing 1 hour of daylight per week here on Lofoten, so the nights are steadily growing longer. On last weekends hiking trip was the first time I brought my headlamp again this season. Last years aurora season was pretty poor, mostly due to the near constant cloud cover. So far this summer, northern Norway has received the most hours of sunshine in the whole country. Will this continue over the next months, with endless clear night skies and dancing northern lights like in September 2017? Or will the clouds return again? No one knows. But with the world locking down again, it’s not like I’ll be going anywhere, so I guess I’ll eventually find out…

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 31
f 11
1 second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #396 – The Maelstrom

Photo: The Maelstrom – Mosken and Very rise in the distance across Moskstraumen, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 1, 2020. 22:32

Until last weekend I had only visited Lofotodden – The very western tip of Moskenesøy once before during a sailing trip in 2014 where we moored in Buvågen bay for a night. So when a friend informed my that they had a boat ride lined up for the weekend, I was excited to join in!

The Original plan had been to hike to both Refsvika and Hellsegga, but in typical Lofoten fashion, a heavy layer of summer fog enveloped the islands of Friday and well into Saturday. So we skipped Refsvika and just decided on a night camping on Hellsegga, a 600 meter high flat mountain rising over the southern end of Lofoten – basically the end of Lofoten.

From the southern side of Hellsegga one has fantastic views over Moskstraumen, one of the worlds strongest currents, and the islands of Mosken and Værøy. There is lots of folklore in Norway about Moskstraumen and whirlpools swallowing ships and sailors. But un this particular evening it looked quite calm in the fading summer twilight.

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
92mm
ISO 100
f 6.3
1/50 second
WB Daylight
2 images – top, bottom for 4:5 ratio

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