Friday Photo #484 – Spring Ptarmigan

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Photo: Male Ptarmigan in mix of winter and summer moulting sitting on fence post, Myrland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 11, 2022. 15:11

With the long and (hopefully) sunny days of April comes the ever increasing activity among Lofoten’s birdlife. With the oystercatchers some of the first arrivals in mid March, many of the other migratory bird species have arrived over the last few weeks. Bridging with them a near round the clock flurry of activity in the skies over Lofoten as they fight for mates and territory for the summer breeding season.

The Ptarmigans, while year round residents of Lofoten, also join in with the activity and become much more active an visible than during the winter as their mating calls ring out through the air. One benefit of living in a rural setting such as mine, is that much of the area surrounding my house is filled with frequent activity, making for somewhat easy photography from my yard. Although in a few more weeks, the noise level on some nights will reach an irritatingly high volume, that I have to wear earplugs some nights to get a full sleep!

The Ptarmigan are also some of the easiest of the birds to photograph, and usually allow one to slowly approach without flying off – though a 500mm lens also helps in this process! If I’m lucky, I can catch them in my backyard and sneak around my house before they notice me. Maybe I should build a hide one of these days, but truthfully, I’m not that into bird photography. Only when an easy opportunity presents itself, such as these April days around the neighbourhood.

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 200-500 F/5.6
500mm
ISO 1000
f 6.3
1/2000 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #483 – Aurora Season Ending

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Photo: April northern light shine over glowing northern horizon in final days of aurora season, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 10, 2021. 01:06

With the ever lightening nighttime sky of April comes the inevitable end of Lofoten’s aurora season. Last year (Friday Photo #433) brought a fantastic finale to the season with 5 consecutive nights of dancing northern lights, including the latest aurora I’ve seen, occurring on the night of April 19/20.

What this year will bring, I don’t know yet. There is still time for a little more, but once April arrives, the sun seems to go into hyperdrive and the night time sky quickly fades away. But the last aurora is kinda like the last sunlight before the polar night in December; you never quite know when it will be until its already gone.

The last weeks have brought several major solar storms, some of which where even too far south to be visible on Lofoten – one reason why bigger is not always better in regards to northern lights and KP index. But for these late season auroras, there generally needs to be a good level of activity, pushing the aurora into the darker overhead sky and further towards the south.

For this image from 01:00 on April 10th, even a fairly moderate aurora is able to shine though the glowing northern horizon. However, a week later, this would probably barely be visible as the horizon would already be glowing significantly brighter.

I’ve written previously, but I personally think the last week of March and first weeks of April is one of the best times for northern lights as I find the white nights to add nice contrast to the images. Of course, it is also a bit more risky at this time of year as the nighttime hours are greatly reduced compared with earlier in the winter. But even so, I think my favourite aurora images of the season generally occur in April.

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

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 14mm f/1.8
14mm
ISO 2500
f 1.8
8 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #481 – Spring Oystercatchers

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Photo: Oystercatcher pair on coastal rock with snowy Justadtind in the background on the first day of spring, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. March 20, 2022. 17:25

Last Sunday was the vernal/spring equinox, marking the astronomical start of Spring here in the north. Though even after an unusually mild March, snow is once again falling today – so ‘green spring’ is still a ways a way up here. Yet there’s always one sign every year that winter will be ending eventually and that is the arrival of the Oystercatchers along Lofoten’s coastline.

This year, my first sighting was on Sunday the 13th, as I was driving towards Reine. I tried to get near some at Yttesand beach, but as I was slowly approaching, someone flew a drone overhead and scared them off… Though I’m not overly interested in bird photography, its more so that I have a record of when certain events occur each year. But I’d still like a nice photo is possible.

For this image, was on my second attempt I just took a walk down to the coastline from my house, from where I can hear them chirping away all day. At this time of year, before they have nested and laid eggs in the coastal grasses and fields, they are quite skittish and move off quickly. So giving up on the plan of getting very close, I tried to use a bit more of the landscape in the scene. In this case, the distant (and stilly snowy) mountain of Justadtind.

These two were well placed on the top of the rock, allowing me to slowly move around and change up the background a bit. Soon though, a 3rd oystercatcher arrived, to the annoyance of these two, and sent them off to defend their rock from the newcomer.

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
500mm
ISO 640
f 5.6
1/1600 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #451 – Kvalvika Reflection

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Photo: Reflection of Ryten and Fuglhuken mountain peaks in small lake at Kvalvika beach, Lofotodden national park, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 15, 2021. 20:35

Aurora season has finally begun on Lofoten. While last night was the first fully clear, a faint aurora only visible to camera was all the appeared. Tonight, will full cloud cover, a strong solar wind is hitting the earth, and no doubt there will be a dancing sky above the clouds. With the weather forecast not looking the best at the moment, it will probably be well into September before I see the first aurora of the season this year.

Today’s photo is where I had planned to hike yesterday evening to hopefully capture the first aurora of the season. Although laziness eventually got the best of me and I stayed hope, at least I didn’t miss anything. There are still plenty of weeks ahead for another attempt anyhow. Though this year, I’m not quite as excited about northern lights as I usually am. I feel a bit more like I do towards the end of the season, ‘ehh, just a bit of green stuff in the sky…’ I guess after 5 full winters living on Lofoten, the northern lights are actually more common than a nice colourful sunrise or sunset. Like everything, they just become familiar. I guess I should count myself lucky – that northern lights now feel normal to me.

What I’m missing the most is a warm summer afternoon, which we never had many of this year. Or, a break from the winter’s long darkness. Hopefully I can finally get south this winter – something I’ve been saying to myself for the last several years, but never managed to achieve yet. Since moving to Lofoten in early 2016, I’ve only been south of Lofoten for a total of 3 weeks between October – April. Too many long winters for this California dude.

But even as I ramble on about northern lights and long winters, there’s still always images I have planned. Maybe they happen this year, maybe next, maybe in 5 years, or perhaps never… There is a lot of talk in photography about pre-visualization vs. being open to the moment and seeing what happens. Both I think are valid methods to be used under varying circumstances. But when you live in a place full time, even such a dynamic place like Lofoten, I think it is important to have some imagination for scenes or moments that would make a good photo.

This image, with northern lights over Ryten and Fuglhuken and reflected in the lake is one of my pre-visualized images. It will probably take multiple attempts, while also requiring 2 hours of hiking (round trip), so not overly difficult, but very dependent of a multitude of conditions to occur at once. The main difficulty I think will be the wind, or lack there of, as having a still lake and clean reflection is an important part of the image I have in my head. And then me being out there when something magical happens. Fingers crossed.

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

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8
38mm
ISO 100
f 10
1/80 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #437 – Midnight Flow

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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

Friday Photo #436 – Spring Thaw

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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

Friday Photo #435 – Midnight Rain

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Photo: Soft rain showers fall into the sea after midnight in May’s twilight light, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 5, 2021. 00:40

With the arrival of the midnight sun less than 3 weeks away, there is already no more darkness during the nights on Lofoten and I’ve already found myself transitioning to ‘midnight sun’ mode: ie. stay up until 02:00-03:00 and sleep til noon-ish. Though part of this is also because I should probably get curtains that block more light, as mine basically do nothing.

But it is also that my mind can’t settle. It is possible to shoot 24 hours a day now, so even when I know it’s time to sleep, I’m thinking about what photo possibilities might happen over the next hours. It is a similar restlessness to big aurora nights, where even once home after being out for hours, I still can’t settle, and constantly look out the windows, wondering if I should go back out again.

This photo here is from one of those situations. I had already been out hiking for sunset for several hours. But on my way home, a layer a cloud cam in from the south, leaving a small band of the glowing horizon in the north. I stopped along the road and shot a few photos, but once home, I couldn’t ignore the light for much longer – eventually ending up shooting a time-lapse sequence as the gentle clouds floated over the sea. This photo is from my bathroom window.

While this is a pretty simple, and dare I say, boring image, what is special for me is the time it was taken. If this was just 19:00 in the evening, then ehhh, no big deal. But this is almost 01:00, the darkest hour of the night. I think I’m just looking forward to summer! And the glowing nights are the first sign of the magical summer months here 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
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
200mm
ISO 100
f 8
3 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #434 – Rype

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Photo: Male Ptarmigan in winter plumage in spring field, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 16, 2021. 18:42

I make to claims to be any sort of even near competent wildlife photographer, and in general, I’ll only pursue any soft of animals should the opportunity basically present itself before me – ie, a moose standing on the side of the road, etc. The one small exception to this is in the spring time when the fields around my house fill with various birds. Then, I’ll bring out the telephoto lens and make various, usually failed, attempts at getting some images.

I think this is also because I don’t find the brown fields and melting snow that attractive for landscape photography. Everything just feels a bit ‘ehh’ looking to me at this time of year. And in only a few weeks the trees will be green and the fields full of flowers. This is also one of the reason why I don’t really offer any photo workshops at this time of year, unless by special request, as it is not the most scenic time on Lofoten.

Of all the animal and birds cruising around, the mountain hares are probably the easiest to photograph, with the ptarmigan – rype in Norwegian, probably being the next easiest to get near enough to. Everything else just flies away as I attempt to approach, and i’m way too lazy to sit out in a hide for several hours just for a picture of a bird. Although there might be one exception, as there is an eagle that semi-regularly sits on a small lump of grass overlooking the ocean, which might be worth a proper attempt at wildlife photography one of these years.

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
500mm
ISO 320
f 5.6
1/1250 second
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #433 – Aurora Season Finale

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Photo: Aurora Corona fills the southern sky over Stornappstind just before midnight, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 16, 2021. 23:40

My prediction for the weekend in last weeks post (Friday Photo #432) of maybe 1-2 more last nights of northern lights of the season more than came true, turning into 4 consecutive nights of aurora from Friday to Monday. The best display by far though, was Friday night and into the early morning hours of Saturday, with multiple KP5 coronas appearing well into the southern half of the sky.

I’m posting multiple photos this week, as these will be the last northern lights photos I’ll have until the sky begins to darken again in late August. But this was a good finish to the year, and now the latest I have taken northern lights images into April, with the last night being Monday/Tuesday the 19/20th – where previously it had been the night of 13/14th. So almost a week later this year.

Really though, it is just pure luck after the beginning of April, as it needs to be a large enough aurora display to appear overhead or in the southern sky which remains dark enough. Any small northerner lights along the northern horizon would not likely have been visible. But I think there is something unique and special about these spring auroras, with the horizon glowing which adds depths and color to the image.

The second image, taken just after midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning might be my favorite of this group. Too bad I hadn’t been in Reine on Friday, that would have been a show! But I kind of like the subtlety of this image, with the aurora almost interacting with the moon, which itself was also nicely situated over the landscape. Normally I try and avoid including city lights in my aurora photos, but here, I think they add to the sense of place to the image. The aurora didn’t last long this night, but eventually some really cool lenticular clouds began floating over the fjord (you can see a time lapse of if you follow me on Instagram) which eventually took over my attention – Perhaps only a photographer living on Lofoten can be more interested in clouds than northern lights!

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
40mm
ISO 1250
f 2
2 seconds
WB Daylight

Friday Photo #432 – Last Aurora

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Photo: Northern Lights in sky over glowing April horizon, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. April 13, 2021. 01:10

It is mid April and the northern horizon is growing lighter with each passing night as the sun continues on it’s northern journey over the next two months. And so, it is time to say goodbye to the northern lights until they return again in late August.

Every year it is always a question of when I will see the last aurora, doing it’s best to shine brighter than the midnight April sky. So far, the night of April 12/13 is the latest I have photographed northern lights here on Lofoten. Today’s image is also of that night. It won’t be until next week when the sky will definitely be too bright, that I will know if this was this years last aurora image or not.

However, the weather forecast is showing clear skies this weekend and there is also some solar energy hitting earth, which means there is a good change I might get one or two more nights of northern lights in the coming nights. And it really is a light night event at this time of year, usually becoming visible around midnight.

While the northern lights often get stereotyped as a winter event, from the Lofoten Islands, and in a strictly astrological sense of light and darkness, they are potentially visible for about 8 months of the year – about August 20-25 – April 15-20. So about 2/3rds of the year they are visible! I guess that is why I always lose a bit of motivation during the last month or so and don’t put too much effort to get out unless conditions seem ideal. The exception being, to try and get the last aurora dance of the season.

This year was a strange northern lights season, and defiantly not the best of the 5 winters I have now lived full time on Lofoten. It was much better than the 2019/2020 season, which simply had terrible weather overall. This season we had a pretty rainy and gray start to the season and it wasn’t until January that the weather improved somewhat. And while we were lucky to have some large aurora displays on a few perfectly clear nights, they were still somewhat few and far between. And frustratingly, there were also multiple clear but aurora-less nights this season. I guess that is why northern lights photography is usually referred to as, ‘chasing’ or ‘hunting,’ or some other verb to describe the pursuit – as even in otherwise perfect conditions, you never know if they will show up or not…

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

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 70-200mm f/4
140mm
ISO 1000
f 4.5
1/1600 second
WB Daylight