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

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

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

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