Photo: August sunset over Myrland beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. August 3, 2020. 22:41

While the midnight sun of June and early July is simply a nice time for life on Lofoten, the real photography season of summer begins once the sun starts to fall below the northern horizon in the second half of July. The days are still endlessly long and the first visible stars are some weeks away, but now with the sun just barely below the horizon, the sunset – sunrise nights begin.

The most important factor though, is for the weather to cooperate. The best condition are for the northern horizon to be clear with moderate cloud cover over Lofoten. If the opposite occurs, a marine layer along the northern horizon and clear sky over Lofoten, the light simply fades out into a dull twilight. Luckily, I live facing directly north over the open sea, so even if all of Lofoten looks otherwise grey and gloomy, I can see what might occur once the sun hits the horizon.

Unfortunately, its not always that easy to plan in the ever changing weather and often times I head up into the mountains on nights which the light simply fades out. While other days, I think the weather looks terrible and then suddenly the sky catches on fire. At least I have a small beach I can quickly run down to to at least capture something. Though I think I probably have too many sunsets (and northern lights) from here now, so sometimes I’m even more lazy these days and just watch from my window. I guess I’m spoiled!

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 11
1/4 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Full rainbow under light of the midnight sun, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 4, 2022. 23:57

This was one of those stormy Lofoten days where the weather is quite boring and rainy during daytime, but as the sun gets lower on the horizon interesting light can happen. I had been out hiking Storknubben on GImsøy the day before in boring cloudless blue sky, but unfortunately had a meeting scheduled for this evening so I couldn’t get too far away from the house.

As midnight approached there was some nice light out in the distant mountains across the Nappstraumen so I wandered out to the field next to my house for a few shots. Soon I felt some drops of rain begin to fall while the sun was still shining bright. Behind me, I could already see the faint beginnings or a rainbow forming as the rain began to fall heavier and heavier from a seemingly invisible cloud.

With the sun low on the horizon and almost due north at midnight – the rainbow occurring almost directly south – I knew I wasn’t in the best location and it would take some time to get to a better composition for the location of the rainbow. So instead, I sent up my drone, which hasn’t seen much use this year as I understand their utility, I still have a fair dislike of them in general, just looking at the world through a tiny screen while a bunch of advanced technology does more or less all the work; that is not really photography for me. But alas, in the situation, my drone seemed like the best option, so I sent it up.

For what I generally consider the low quality image of a drone photo, I think it captured the moment pretty well, and was the only way I could do so without having already been on maybe Stornappstind, Middagstind or Møntind as the rain approached.

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

Camera Info:
DJI Air 2s
ISO 100
f 2.8
1/100 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Three seagull hatchlings in evening light, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. July 1, 2022, 03:59

With summer will underway it is the beginning of hatching season for the local seabirds. What are usually already loud nights have become even louder as the various bird species squabble and fight to defend their chicks which are now free from the nests and generally just walk around. While there are (supposedly) no foxes on Flakstadøy, these three have a risky few months ahead of them, with predation from other birds the largest threat.

Beyond the wild lands of Lofoten, these little fuzzballs can be seen walking around literally everywhere during the next months: from parking lots in Leknes, sidewalks in Reine, piers in Henningsvær, and basically everyplace else. On my drive home from the Moskenes ferry late Monday night, there were multiple times I had to slow down on the E10 as there were various hatchlings just standing in the middle of the road.

These three have spend the last couple days on a rock just outside my house while the mother keeps watch the telephone pole in my backyard. Usually they take a bit more shelter in the grasses during the day and come out more in the evening hours. Though it does seem awfully exposed for them to just stand on top of a rock for several hours and I’m surprised I haven’t seen or heard any major attacks on them yet. Although perhaps the rock is safer, as the field will likely be cut within the week for winter feed for the local sheep, so probably best they stay out of the way of the tractor and mower.

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 200-500mm f/5.6
500mm
ISO 400
f 6.3
1/640 second
WB Daylight

Photo: Summer house by the sea, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 17, 2022. 17:28

With midsummer less than a week away Lofoten is now reaching its peak summer lushness. The landscape is bright green and the fields filled with the endless colors of wildflowers (though mostly yellow). While the temperatures have been a little on the cooler side still, hovering around 10˚C, the sun provides plenty of warmth for an evening bbq.

I was out in the ‘myr’ – or boggy marshland of my valley this afternoon attempting to photograph the local pair or arctic Skuas. They are fast, and hard to photograph, and more so because the valley is surrounded on 3 sides by high mountains. So I can only really get clean shots while looking north towards the sea, but they never seem to be in that direction! And, they are fast. It was much easier to photograph them on Svalbard last summer, where the surrounding landscape was much more open.

Walking back, my neighbour’s house was looking quite ‘summery’ set against the distant mountains of Vestvågøy and surrounded by wildflowers. I would have like to go a little wider, but there is an old barn just off to the left which I didn’t want to include in the frame. It’s only a quick snapshot, but I think it sums up quite well a nice summer afternoon on Lofoten.

This look will only last a few more weeks at most after which any areas which are actually farm fields will be mowed for winter feed for Lofoten’s sheep and cows. While the wild areas still remain, quite a lot of the meadows are actually farm fields, especially on Vestvågøy and Flakstadøy.

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 24-200 f/4-6.3
67mm
ISO 100
f 8
1/400 second
WB Daylight