Photo: Cormorants at dawn, Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 15, 2024. 09:11
As the blue hour light over Haukland beach faded into early dawn I was ready to head off to the next location. But walking back to the van, I thought this row of skarven – cormorants had a nice profile against the distant mountains. And as a beginning wildlife photographer, I thought I might try and get a photo.
I would have liked to shoot a little wider, capturing the whole rock, but unfortunately with the tide level, there was a small rock to the right of the frame which I found too distracting. But in this image I also find the sloping of the rock on the right side a little distracting as well. I think this image has potential, but needs another attempt or two for something better.
The main difficulty though, was waiting for all the birds to have their heads up and in a sideways profile. Had they been sitting in this position the whole time, I probably could have gotten a better composition immediately. But as they were constantly cleaning themselves and moving around, it was really a bit of luck to get them all with their heads up, and not much time to do much else. Next time…
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 360mm ISO 800 f 6.3 1/800 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Soft dawn sunlight shine over Flakstadtind, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 6, 2024. 09:24
Before this moment I had actually been shooting pretty wide in the 14-20mm range with some nice foreground wave action over the rocks along the coastline at Vareid. In that situation, these background mountains are quite far away and small – though there tends to be a lot of ‘creative interpretations’ among many photographers these days. Suddenly, the sky began to glow and a nice light lit the distant mountains.
I would have actually liked to continue shooting wide, but the sky was also beginning to clear from the right side of the scene. Had the clouds continued across the sky, I think it would have been better. But now I was left with a colorful sunset on the left side of the image, and a dull-ish blue sky on the right side of the image. For me, this didn’t feel very balanced. So I changed lenses.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 125mm ISO 200 f 5.6 1/160 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Dusting of snow covers rocks at Unstad beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 5, 2024. 12:23
Sometimes one doesn’t need to contribute much more to a photograph than being there. This is one of those times: park the van, walk 50 meters, setup camera and tripod, take a photo.
Lofoten has done all the real work…
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 24-120mm f/4 35mm ISO 64 f 10 30 Seconds WB Daylight 10 Stop Nisi ND Filter
Photo: Olstind mountain peak rises over a frozen Reinefjord, Toppøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 7, 2024. 10:16
It is not so often that Lofoten is still enough or cold enough for a large portion of Reinefjord to begin to freeze over. From a higher view point, I could see that the surface was frozen well across towards Olstind peak, which rises in the distance.
Luckily my group arrived at the location before anyone else this day, so we had a clean, footprint free, foreground to work with, should it be wanted in the composition. Which in this case I’m not 100% sure about, and also shot a number of images looking for interesting patterns in the frozen fjord as a foreground.
Either way, it is always better to be cautious with a nice fresh layer of snow and not rush too quickly towards the most immediately obvious composition, ruining potentially better compositions you might not have immediately seen. The same applies to beaches, where too many times have I seen people immediately walk into the scene without first doing a bit of study, and walking through better compositions. It is good to slow down and look around a bit. Footprints don’t disappear once there…
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 14-30mm f/4 22mm ISO 100 f 8 1/80 Second WB Daylight
Photo: The classic view from Hamnøy bridge, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 20, 2024. 07:30
A moody morning at one of Lofoten’s classic views: the red rorbu cabins from Hamnøy bridge.
While the desire for many photography is for a bright and colorful sunrise, I generally tend to prefer a bit more of a moody shot these days – not like I don’t already have folders full of bright sunny sunrises as well. And while I’ll spend dozens of hours standing here this winter, only a few times will I pull out my camera for photo.
On this morning I liked the misty clouds around the summit of Festhæltinden and the stormy sea in the foreground. This is actually one location in the area that I think works better in a bit of stormy weather. You’re not going to be looking for reflections here anyhow, so a bit of wave action around the rocks is better than a calm sea in my opinion. It is also better around high tide, as otherwise the rocks become too much of a dominant part of the foreground.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 14-30mm f/4 18mm ISO 64 f 11 6 Seconds WB Daylight 6 stop Nisi ND filter
Photo: Photographers stand shoulder to shoulder on Hamnøy bridge during sunrise, Lofoten Islands, Norway. February 12, 2024. 08:43
With February arriving tomorrow Lofoten’s winter photography workshop season will be kicking into high gear. Over the next two months thousands of photographers will stand shoulder to shoulder on this bridge, rain or shine, sunrise or sunset, dancing aurora or full blizzard. Sometimes I think to myself that there is probably at least 1 photographer on the bridge 24/7. And no doubt with my first tour of the year having just started, I’ll spend many hours on this bridge myself over the months.
The Lofoten locals themselves will record many videos of the crowds as they pass over the bridge and a few of the more crowded days will get posted to the local facebook groups, gaining a slew of comments about all the crazy things tourists do on Lofoten’s roads. And so far this winter the roads have been a wrecking house for rental cars – worse than I have ever seen with multiple daily crashes becoming a regular occurrence, unfortunately.
And this bridge can be a dangerous location as too many people are disrespectful and ignorant of the fact that they are standing on the side of a road, the E10, Lofoten’s main highway and the route many of the winter fish take from the islands towards the ferry at Moskenes. Many times myself, I find I’m having to play traffic cop for oblivious tourists standing in the middle of the road, hood scrunched over their face as a snow plow, bus, or truck heavy with fish is heading down the icy bridge towards them. And then the honking and yelling from the drivers begin…
So, as with every year, please be respectful when visiting Lofoten this winter. It is in fact, not Disneyland. It is a place where thousands of people live and work, and would like to be able to safely drive the roads to do so.
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 14-30mm f/4 23mm ISO 320 f 2.6 1/80 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Noon winter sun casts long shadows over icy shoreline at Nappstraumen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 24, 2025. 12:23
Lofoten hasn’t had much sun this year. Well, Lofoten hasn’t have much sun since last August. But today finally arrived to a fully clear sky and bright sun for everyone to enjoy – at least those on the south facing side of Lofoten. For those of us on the north side, it will still be some weeks or months until the sun is high enough in the sky to shine over our houses.
I had originally written a different article for today, mostly about the frequent changing weather so far this year – from deep snow to heavy rain and flooding to freezing and Icy – which is Lofoten’s current state until next week when it warms up and rains again. But with such a wonderful day, I thought a sunny photo would be nicer.
My original plan had been to shoot a photo at 12:00 noon, mostly to illustrate now low in the sky the sun still is right now, 3 weeks after it first rose again after the Polar Night. But heading out my door in what I though was plenty of time for a short drive down the road, I didn’t realize my van was frozen solid like a rock – even the doors had trouble opening. I guess it must have rained after I returned home yesterday and frozen overnight. So what I thought would be a short drive down the road first turned into 10+ minutes of me scraping ice off my windshield so I could drive. (Remember, in Norway you always need to have clean windows, being in a rush is no excuse)
As I arrived at my planned location just 5 km down the road, I could see my delay caused me to miss my originally planned shooting location as the sun was already emerging too far from behind the mountain. This led me to have to climb up a small icy hill to get the sun back in a better position in relation to the mountain. But again, it wasn’t quite perfect – at least for me planning to have a photo taken directly at 12:00. I probably missed the shot my 1-2 minutes.
Not being satisfied, this led me to drive over to the other side of Nappstraumen, where I’d then have a 2nd chance for the sun emerging from the mountain – although by this time, I’d obviously lost my planning for a shot at 12:00 noon.
Luckily the shoreline was well frozen and a number of small icy ponds were around to attempt to use as a foreground. I always find this a slightly difficult location as it’s full of potential but difficult to find a composition that works well.
Once the sun was a little higher into the sky I noticed the nice shadows being cast from the small rocks in the ponds. So instead of using the end of the pond as a foreground, I put my camera almost all the way down on the ice and looked for what I could come up with. I shot a few different variations and think this one probably came out the best – my 3rd attempt for this weeks photo…
Camera Info: Nikon Z8 Nikon 14-30mm f/4 17mm ISO 100 f 14 1/100 Second WB Daylight
Photo: Lofoten Sjark – fishing boat heading to sea in stormy winter weather, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 28, 2022. 11:34
A thousand years before the oil was discovered, tørrfisk – air-dried cod from Lofoten was already one of Norway’s most important exports, and that importance continues to this day in keeping the livelihood of Lofoten. But now day, its not men in wool suits and row boats braving the cold winter waters, but modern boats, able to do the work of a hundred men. But the winter weather is still the same and on days like this photo, it is not an easy task to be at sea.
It is mostly coincidence that cod migrate from the far north to spawn in the waters around Lofoten during winter, which happens to be the best conditions for air-drying the fish in the cold and windy Lofoten climate. Too cold and the fish will freeze before drying. Too warm or not enough wind and the fish will spoil. Lofoten is the balance of all the elements.
January is still early in the fishing season most years, so many of the wooden drying racks – hjell – you will see around are probably still empty. And many of the racks, particularly around rorbuer cabins are no longer in use today: partly due to the smell annoying tourists staying in the cabins, but mostly do to moving to larger, more industrial sized areas where tractors can be driven underneath to hoist up the buckets of fish – which are then still hung by hand.
Weather can also have a big effect on each year’s catch. Many days like this photo and it will probably be a long and difficult winter for many fishermen. On clear and calm nights, you can see the lights of the boats filling the horizon as they pull in their catch below the dancing northern lights. I hope this winter brings good fishing for those at sea and good aurora to my guests over the next two months.
Camera Info: Nikon Z7 II Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 500mm ISO 1250 f 5.6 1/640 Seconds WB Daylight
Photo: Northern lights and moonlit mountains over Vik beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 24, 2019. 00:13
The media hype around this year’s solar maximum and, ‘OMG!!! Best time in 10 years to see northern lights!’ No doubt means Lofoten will be busier than ever this coming winter season. But I’ll tell you a little secret – there are always northern lights on Lofoten, and most anywhere in the aurora oval. Some periods may be more quiet that other, such as January 2024, which otherwise should have been very active, but that has as much to do with the earth’s magnetic field, as it does with the activity from the sun. And of course the biggest factor for Lofoten, the weather!
If you had been to Lofoten during the previous months, then you’ll mostly have been disappointed with your northern lights chasing, as there has been a near continuous cloudy sky and stormy weather over most of northern Norway. No matter how active the sun is, if you can’t see the sky, then you cant see the northern lights. On my own, I usually only go out under ideal conditions the days, as so far that has only been a handful of nights this season.
But the good news is! There is no on-off switch for the northern lights. They will be here next year, the year after, and many years to come.
Here is an old photo from January 2019, during the solar minimum when the sun was supposed to relatively inactive. And yet here is an aurora filled sky over moonlit mountain peaks. And I have dozens of similar nights each year for the last decade. So don’t worry, the northern lights aren’t going to be ‘over’ if you don’t visit the north this year. Next year will be fine as well, and all the years into the future…
Camera Info: Nikon D850 Sigma 14mm f/1.8 14mm ISO 2000 f 1.8 1.3 Seconds WB Daylight
Photo: Moon in twilight sky over Skolmen, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. January 3, 2023. 11:19
Welcome to 2025! When I first registered 68north.com in 2010 as a small portfolio for my growing collection of travel images from Lofoten, I never imagined what the journey over the next 15 years would have been. Nor did I image when I first started writing these Friday Photo posts over 10 years ago that I would still be here writing one every week. The world is a lot different today than it was then, especially the world of travel, photography, and information.
In some ways I still have one foot in that old world. I still don’t use a gps when hiking, I’m not that into video and social media, I’ve never put any advertising or sponsored content (other than my own products) on this website, and I’m still writing blog posts. With the growing presence of AI in both imagery and words, perhaps a hand written site like this is more important than ever. Even if no one reads blogs anymore amongst the increasing supply of fantasy depicted as reality. At least the information is here should anyone come searching for it.
And a new year means the days are getting brighter as the Polar Night is quickly coming to an end. Weather permitting, it might be possible to see the first half of the sun tomorrow as it floats across the southern horizon. That said, these first days are the year as still quite short. Here, a waxing gibbous moon is just about to pass over Skolmen mountain in the distance.
Opposite of the midnight sun, there is the midday moon during winter here in Lofoten. Whereas in ’normal’ latitudes, a full moon will rise opposite of sunset. When sunset doesn’t occur, and the sun is below the horizon in the south, the moon can be above the horizon at noon towards the north – 180˚ opposite the sun.
Camera Info: Nikon Z7 II Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 330mm ISO 200 f 5.3 1/40 Second WB Daylight
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