Friday Photo #716 – Autumn Reflection

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Photo: Autumn colors reflect in small pond, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 19, 2026. 16:38

The autumn color feels like it arrived a bit early this year. Luckily most of the leaves seemed to hold during the first høststorm of the season on September 13, while the moderate winds of this past week seem to be taking their toll as peak color seems to have arrived already.

This photo from last weekend was already pretty colourful. And wandering around Hagskaret the follow day, many trees were already past their prime. I won’t have much of an autumn portfolio this year as weather and work have largely kept me indoors, and any 24+ hour period of sunshine was needed for house painting – there hasn’t been much of these!

But I did manage to get away a couple times. This photo is from along Nusfjordveien, which is always a favourite autumn color location of mine in the western half of Lofoten. Even on this day though, low clouds were concealing the mountain tops, leaving me looking for a more subtle type image. Luckily the wind was calm and this small roadside pond offered a decent reflection of the colourful landscape.

The most hazardous part of the journey was navigating the unfortunately high amount of human poops just beyond the small forest along the parking area. The parking area which is a 7 minute drive from the nearest free / open 24 hour toilet at Skagsanden beach.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
101mm
ISO 100
f8
1/25 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #714 – Rocket Lauch

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Photo: Isar space agency rocket launched from Andøya glows in the sky over Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 9, 2026. 22:18

As darkness approached the low clouds which had been filling the sky over my neighbourhood cleared. I had the livestream of the launch playing on my phone as I headed a little ways down the road to what I thought would be a good vantage point. With the launch time scheduled for 22:00 in the still fading twilight, I was hoping the rocket would get a bit of upper atmospheric illumination as the booster separated. And it did!

Growing up in southern California, I’m not a stranger to rocket launches, which occurred on occasion from the airforce base a little ways north. And now, they occur with even more frequency, as it’s used as a launch site for Space X rockets, but that has only occurred in recent years.

Back in the day, I only had a few chances to shoot twilight launches, the last of which being 2002 – the photo below. Probably shot of Fuji Provia 100, I remember heading up into the mountains above town after class to photograph the sunset timed launch. Back then, everything was a bit of guesswork, but I ended up with a couple nice images. Though now of relatively poor quality by today’s standards.

So for last weekend’s launch, I more or less knew what to expect, or at least what I was hoping to see. I thought I put myself in a good location for the rocket itself to launch from behind the mountains. But I should have gone another kilometer down the road to better place the rocket’s upper atmospheric glow closer to the moon, as in this image, it feels like it’s already heading out of frame. I like the addition of the moon in the image, but it was also hard to place in the scene without also feeling too out of balance.

While not perfect, it sounds like there will be some more chances in the future, as this launch went perfectly.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 400
f4
4 Seconds
WB Daylight

Photo: Twilight rocket launch from Vandenberg afb over Santa Ynez mountains, California. 2002

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Friday Photo #712 – First Aurora

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Photo: First visible northern lights under full moon in late August twilight sky, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 28, 2026. 00:01

I was hesitantly optimistic as the sky remained clear into the fading twilight of late August. The sun’s activity was low and a full moon was adding more illumination to the already not-that-dark August night. But shortly before midnight a faint green began to appear over the northern horizon. My first aurora of the 2026-2027 northern lights season.

Had this been April, I probably would not have even bothered going out. But the first aurora of Lofoten’s 8 month long aurora season is always something I like to photograph, mostly as a record of time and place.

I had already walked home from the beach when I looked out again to an overhead corona slowly moving across the sky, a hint of magenta on the upper edges. With no decent composition available, and iPhone photo would suffice for this brief moment. There will be plenty more nights for the real camera over the coming months…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 20mm f/1.8
20mm
ISO 1000
f2
2 Seconds
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #711 – Sun’s Farewell

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Photo: Late August setting sun about to return behind the mountain as summer fades, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 19, 2026. 20:40

I have not seen many sunsets this summer. And in a few more days the sun will return to setting behind the mountain as summer begins to fade from Lofoten. Looking at the weather forecast, this image will probably be my last setting sun until it returns again in April next year. Until then, my valley will receive no more northern sunlight in the evenings.

I can already see a moderate amount of yellowing of the birch leaves beginning to occur on my drive into Leknes. They have closed the Nappstraumen tunnel again for free flow of traffic – now it’s back to a leader car with one passage per hour in each direction. And the first Northern lights have already been seen in the darkening night sky.

Summer is over and Autumn has made an early arrival. Though looking back, this year’s summer has already been over since mid June. It is just now that this is little hope it might return.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
37mm
ISO 100
f10
1/500 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #710 – No Eclipse

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Photo: Cloudy sky over Myrland beach during 2026 solar eclipse, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 12, 2026. 19:22

With the sun shining brightly in the mostly blue afternoon sky, I was hesitantly optimistic for a viewing of the solar eclipse. That optimism slowly faded as layer of clouds pressed in as the eclipse was just about the begin. I could feel the sky darkening, was it the eclipse or the clouds, or more likely both.

Nevertheless, I headed down to the beach for a quick photo anyways. Of what could have been with slightly different timing. And of course, after the eclipse had ended, the clouds cleared and the sun was hover over the sea.

Other areas of Lofoten had better luck. And of course my Instagram feed has been filled with amazing photos from Spain and other locations. Maybe in the future I should try and plan a little better, as I’ve never actually photographed a solar eclipse, and am not even quite sure I’ve seen one, at least not for the last 20 years or so.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
18mm
ISO 32
f9
1/2 Second
WB Daylight
3 stop ND filter

Photo: Using PhotoPills app to visualize what could have been. It would have an interesting shot I think.

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Friday Photo #707 – Memories of the Sun

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Photo: Morning sun shines bright in sky over Nappstraumen, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 19, 2024. 03:18

I couldn’t post another grey, cloudy images this week. Not because it hasn’t been grey, cold, and cloudy almost the entire time, but mainly because I haven’t even taken my camera out of the backpack. I’m writing this post Thursday evening as a rain cloud covers all of Lofoten and gale force winds are forecast to arrive overnight, before a windy and rainy Friday. I actually had to look at my phone to see when the last time I saw the midnight sun was, as it seems to have faded from memory. July 5.

So this week’s photo is a memory of what summer could have been, instead of what is – you can see the last two weeks’ posts for that.

The night of July 18/19 is the latest I can see the very top of the sun skimming the horizon throughout the night. This photo was taken a few hours later with the sun rising in the sky again. But in only a few more weeks, even this photo won’t be possible anymore as the sun begins its journey south, with Lofoten losing roughly 1 hour of daylight per week – or night growing 1 hour longer per week – whichever way you want to look at it.

Landscape wise, the bright fireweed is already lining the road on my way into Leknes. And with the grey, cold, and windy weather, it feels like autumn has already arrived. I’m already getting slightly hesitant about my annual September hiking plans for Sweden, as it would be no fun hiking in this, if it continues. For whatever reason, a lot of stories about people hiking the Lofoten ‘long crossing’ have been popping up on my Instagram feed. And I must say, it looks pretty miserable! I’m glad I have a warm-ish house to sit in while I can complain about the weather outside. Perhaps I’m getting too old to enjoy being wet and muddy for a week – in addition to carrying too much camera gear that won’t get used.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm f/4
75mm
ISO 100
f8
1/500 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #706 – Waiting for Summer

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Photo: Dark and cloudy July sky over Storsandes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 16, 2026. 23:18

This years feels like a summer of two Norways. Down south, Norway is baking in 30˚ C temperatures and endless sunshine, while up north we’re struggling to get into the mid teens and have only a couple hours of sunshine – per week! With the 24 hours daylight of the midnight sun ending this weekend, I think I’ve only seen it a handful of times this month, and my bbq still sits unused in the cellar.

Earlier this week, it was 34˚ C somewhere in southern Norway, while Lofoten was 12˚ C. That is quite a difference. But that is often the case, that northern and southern Norway have completely opposite weather each summer. Though usually there is a bit more of a balance. This year it feels like there has been an endless cloud over all of coastal northern Norway. And it doesn’t seem like it will go away anytime soon, unfortunately.

I took this photo late last night, between passing showers of misty rain. Again, like last week, I could have posted a photo of what could have been, but again decided on a photo of what is. This looks like a photo that would be taken on an autumn photo workshop, there is nothing ‘July’ about it for me. Even with the sun still technically above the horizon all night long for a few more days, the clouds are so dark and heavy that I have to turn the lights on in my house during the evening. And this is the first summer in recent years which I’ve had to keep the heating on – And I generally prefer a cool-ish house anyhow, even in winter.

If I was on a road trip in Norway this summer, I would take a close look at the weather forecasts, and most likely remain south in the fjords. While there is that saying, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.’ It is not really true. At least for me, there is nothing enjoyable about sweating your way in a rain jacket up the side of a mountain, only to have views of the misty clouds surrounding you.

As of now, Lofoten is still waiting for summer to arrive…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 14-30mm f/4
21mm
ISO 32
f10
0.8 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #705 – Summer Grey

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Photo: Tourist fishing boat sits alone in the empty sea, Nappstraumen, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 10, 2026. 13:52

As Lofoten approaches its last week of the midnight sun season, the sun, unfortunately, still remains an elusive guest in this grey and cool summer Lofoten is having. Tomorrow should be nice and sunny, before clouds then return to dominate most of next week. The high pressure that is cooking western and southern Europe is keeping the north cool and cloudy. As it goes.

I was planning to post a more colourful photo today, of what these mid-July nights could look like, but rather, here is what this year’s mid-July is actually looking like. And this was already after the weather had improved somewhat and the mist cleared away from the sea. Vestvågøy’s highest mountains should be visible in the background, but instead there is a wall of cloud.

As I wrote last week, this is actually perfectly normal weather for Lofoten, though perhaps just not the weather one is hoping for. For now, my bbq remains in the cellar, and my plans to paint the exterior of my house remain on hold until I see an optimistic forecast with several continuous days of sun.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
100mm
ISO 200
f7.1
1/800 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #704 – After Midnight

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Photo: Midnight sun over sea, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 11. 2025. 00:35

The Midnight Sun season is well underway here in Lofoten and the farmers are already out cutting the fields – which is a few weeks earlier than last year. Though for some reason, it feels like summer itself is off to a slow start this year. Besides a handful of days in June, the temperature has remained on the cooler side this year – no beach days yet like the previous years.

And while I might want some warm sunny evenings under the midnight sun, this cool weather is actually completely normal. And after several good summers, Lofoten is due a cooler and wetter one, which might be this year. I remember in 2021 when July was so wet, grey, and cold that I actually went north to Svalbard for better weather! Hopefully I don’t need to go that extreme this year! With many house projects needing attention, I won’t be getting far from Lofoten for a while anyhow.

Hopefully there are still more night like this, with the midnight sun hanging quietly over the sea. Though this year, with myself running some day trips for cruise ship guests, I can’t fully switch to my normal midnight sun schedule and sleep until noon each day.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6
20mm
ISO 64
f7.1
1/1250 Second
WB Daylight

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Friday Photo #700 – Lofoten Nightlife

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Photo: Willow Ptarmigan – Rype in Norwegian – enjoying the evening summer sun, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 18, 2026. 23:05

With Lofoten’s roads filling up with motorhomes and the mountains with hikers it is good to remember that most of Lofoten’s breeding birds are ground nesting. And in the case of the common gulls – sometimes this nest can be in the middle of a parking lot. Not always the best of locations.

When out hiking or camping at this time of year it is important to be mindful of where you walk. Even when I’m going out to take photos of the flowers in the fields outside my house, I have to be careful where I step, even though I’m generally aware of where most of the nest are, some can be extremely well hidden amongst the growing grass and flowers.

The Ptarmigan in this photo is just a visitor. What you can’t see because of the lighting is a common gull – Fiskemåke – sitting on a nest in the grass on the edge of the rock. Even knowing it’s there, I have to look closely. Though as soon as I walk out into my backyard, I’ll receive a close dive-bomb by one of the parents – which trade of pooping on the roof of my sauna as they keep watch from the chimney.

The Ptarmigan here was a tolerated visitor on an otherwise claimed piece of property. Had ravens or crows made a visit, they would have quickly been mobbed away. But for now, most of the birds are at peace with each other. Once the chicks hatch in a another week or two, then all peace ends and the fight for survival begins.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 180-600 f/5.6/6.3
250mm
ISO 280
f5.6
1/1000 Second
WB Daylight

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