Lovely Lofoten!

When I visited the Lofoten area of Norway for the first time at the start of March this year it was like a trip to heaven itself... I am sure that many photographers and non-photographers have had the same feeling. The beautiful vertical world of fishing villages framed by mountains and fjords offers many majestic views and a peaceful atmosphere within which to appreciate them. Last week I made that pilgrimage once again and experienced Lofoten in magnificent autumn colours, very different but no less spectacular than the winter wonderland that greeted me in March.

As I said in my previous post, I took a different route to Lofoten this time - driving to Vaasa, ferry to Umea, driving to Bodø, ferry to Moskenes. The timings of the trip worked out quite well, although anyone who was not interested to take pictures of the night sky might have objected to the 0330 arrival time of the ferry to Moskenes. The drive from Umea (in Sweden) to Bodø (in Norway) was an unusual experience, the roads being rather remote from population centres, in both directions I encountered more reindeer than other cars on the road. These are certainly an interesting sight, but when you see one up ahead in the middle while driving at 100km/h your feelings are not exclusively positive!

Reindeer can be quite a menace on the roads as they show no inclination to get out of the way of approaching vehicles... on the other hand it might be that the cars are the real menace.

The ferry from Bodø arrives in Moskenes (at 0330) which is in one of the most spectacular areas of Lofoten, just a few kilometres from Reine where I was staying for the week. At this point I had been awake for 20 hours and driven about 700km since last sleeping but would not be able to check-in to my accommodation for another 11 hours... but it was a beautiful clear night and I had a chance to practice some astro-photography before heading to Hamnøy for the sunrise.

the village of Hamnøy at 6am, about an hour before sunrise

The weather for the first 6 days of my stay was remarkably good, warm and sunny with clear skies and only light winds. This was much better than you could realistically hope for in late September when you are 200km north of the Arctic circle... although Lofoten does benefit greatly from the warming influence of the gulf stream. The warm sunlight really brought out the autumn colours in the landscape.

Clear skies and still waters - autumnal colours are very much in evidence on this classic view from the road leading to Reine.

Due to a lack of sleep, the first day was more about survival than achievement, but after catching up to some extent with an early night the week set into my familiar routine for such trips - trying to be on location about 60-90 minutes before sunrise each morning and mirroring that by also being on duty for a similar period after sunset.

The second morning was spent in familiar territory, close to "home" as I travelled about 3km to Hamnøy and Sakrisøy for the sunrise. These small fishing villages, about a kilometre apart from each other are both stunning locations and provide a very convenient option when you don't have time, energy or ideas that would take you further away from a base in Reine.

The picturesque harbour at Hamnøy at first light.

the fishing village of Sakrisøy from nearby Olenilsøy.

The unseasonably beautiful weather caused both positive and negative consequences from a photographic point of view. On the positive side the lack of wind left the surface of the fjords in a mirror-like state allowing for great reflections, the morning and evening light was very beautiful and the clear skies opened up great possibilities for starscapes and auroras. On the negative side the lack of cloud cover meant that the light during the day was too direct and harsh for successful daytime shooting and also left the sky quite featureless in many cases.

I found that the Bringen cafe in the middle of Reine was a perfect place to review the results of the sunrise session while taking on much needed caffeine each morning, giving a chance to plan the daytime activities and maybe share a picture to my Instagram or 500px pages. I have used 500px to share full resolution versions of my best pictures over the last 2.5 years, whereas I recently started to use Instagram as an easy way to share quickly edited snapshots while on the road.

During the daylight hours I took the opportunity to re-visit three beaches, each ringed by mountains, namely Skagsanden, Haukland and Uttakleiv. In my previous trip I had really found it difficult to get good pictures at Haukland and Uttakleiv and I had a target to do better this time, this was therefore a scouting mission to get an idea how, and at which time of day, I might try to photograph them.

Uttakleiv beach - late autumn in the Arctic circle!

The beaches at Haukland and Uttakleiv are almost adjacent to each other in a remote corner of Vestvagøy - connected by a short tunnel through a large mountain - and are approximately one hours drive from Reine. After leaving the main road (the E10 highway which runs the length of Lofoten) to head for the beaches you pass through some beautiful countryside with lakes, forests and the occasional residential dwelling, the road is narrow and winding, scenic in the summer but slightly treacherous in the winter.

reflections in Åltjønna lake as the late afternoon mist wisps across the foothills

After spending the afternoon on the beaches it was time to head back to base, pausing to capture the perfect twilight reflections in the Reine fjord.

Reine, reflected.

Having had a full day, carrying my camera gear with me for over 20 kilometres in the sunshine, I was quite ready to get an early night... but at 9pm I thought I should just quickly check outside in case there were any northern lights to be seen.

After taking about 10 steps from the door of my cabin I noticed that two very bright waves of aurora borealis were shimmering above my accommodation, clearly visible to the naked eye despite the presence of quite a lot of artificial light in the area.

This ended any thoughts of going to sleep! If you ever have a chance to view or photograph auroras it is best to take advantage because you never know if or when you will get another opportunity.

quite a show...

I had learned from previous efforts that trying to photograph auroras as part of a scene containing any artificial lights was not ideal, the difference in exposure needed for the artificial lights and the auroras is so large that you almost certainly blow out the highlights or completely under-expose the rest of the scene. For this reason I headed away from the village to test whether any of the locations I had in mind would be good aurora shooting place. My thought was that Skagsanden beach would be a perfect place, I had noticed previously that the smooth shallow incline of the sandy beach retained a film of water as the tide went out, allowing for reflections in the surface, reflections that could include both mountains and auroras in the correct conditions. I headed to that direction and was rewarded with a better aurora shot than I have ever previously managed to capture!

Skagsanden aurora reflections

It did feel good to eventually get to bed... about 0130... with four hours for sleep until the alarm would signal that it was time to shoot once again.

The next day, over a cafe latte in the Bringen cafe, I decided that it was a good idea to drive and then hike to the beach at Kvalvika. According to various online sources this was a spectacular beach, surrounded by mountains, and could be reached by an "easy to moderate" 45 minute hike over a hill. I was pretty sure I could handle that. It had rained a bit over night and the ground was a bit soft as I started the easy to moderate hike but no particular cause for concern. About an hour later, as I was clambering over jagged slippery rocks on a fairly steep incline, I started to re-assess my capabilities for easy to moderate hiking. It seemed to me that the chances of slipping (although I had not done so thus far) were rather too high and that the consequences of slipping were potentially rather serious... so having hiked over the top of the hill and some way down the other side, I decided that I would enjoy the view from where I was and turn back rather than taking any further steps downward. This would be altogether a safer destination to visit in dry conditions.

the closest I got to Kvalvika beach...

autumn colours and wispy cloud

On the way back home I checked out some possible aurora locations for the evening, and at one point, near to Fredvang, I became aware that I was under surveillance - a harbour seal was watching with great interest from the water while I tried to capture a mountain panorama. After running back to the car for a different camera and lens I was able to photograph my observer and capture a seal on camera for the first time.

mountains at Fredvang, reflected in the fjord

a harbour seal

Mountain peaks reflected in the waters of Storvatnet

I was quite hopeful that the two locations I scouted (at Fredvang and Storvatnet pictured above) would be great for auroras later in the night, allowing for mountains and reflections without interference from artificial light... but things don't always work out how you expect. At Fredvang it turned out that some lights on a bridge, about 100m behind the spot I had in mind to shoot from, were illuminating the whole area with a strong and nastily orange glow (which I might have been able to reduce when post-processing the pictures) and also causing a huge "photographer and tripod" shaped shadow in the scene (which would have been more difficult to handle). At Storvatnet the location was as I expected but the auroras were refusing to appear in the correct part of the sky.

I decided to revisit Skagsanden beach in order to see if I could get a different looking aurora shot there... but by this time (close to midnight) I was pretty exhausted and lacking inspiration.

Discouraged, I headed back towards the car.

As I reached the final part of the beach (I had walked a couple of kilometres from the car) I turned around for one last look towards the part of the sky where the auroras had been strongest... I had been trudging along with my back to a spectacular double circle of auroras!

Maybe there was time and energy for one more shot after all. On this evening some well made preparations did not lead to any results, but being stubbornly persistent eventually paid off nicely.

Spectacular auroras above Skagsanden beach, reflected in a tidal pool.

The addition of an aurora shooting session to each day meant that I was burning the candle at all three ends (sunrise, sunset and aurora time) and building up quite a shortfall in sleeping. I can survive quite well without sleep but I knew I had to be a little bit careful when my return journey was going to involve a day of driving for up to 10 hours... so instead of rising at 0515 for the pre-sunrise colours I took a lazy morning and left at 0700 on foot to see if I could find a new (meaning something I had not previously photographed) shot of my "home" village of Reine. Another beautifully calm morning meant that reflections were almost perfect for this panoramic shot of the harbour as the sun was breaching the horizon.

Good Morning Reine!

The rest of the day was spent scouting, on foot, for possible new compositions in Reine, Toppøy, Sakrisøy and Olenilsøy before heading for the beaches at Haukland and Uttakleiv where I thought to take in the sunset and then wait around for a few hours to see if the auroras would once again make an appearance. On my way there I stopped to capture a shot of the tiny village of Bø in it's beautiful setting.

Autumn colours framing the view across the fjord to the tiny village of Bø

The beach at Haukland presents something of a challenge to capture in a photograph. It is massive in scale, following a shallow curved arc in a bay that is surrounded by jagged mountain peaks. In order to capture the whole of the beach itself you need to use a very, very wide angle lens (or combine multiple shots together in a panorama) but one effect of such a wide angle lens is to diminish the size of the massive mountains that surround the beach. By combining five vertically oriented 14mm shots I was able to get this sunset panorama of the beach, but while I like the shot, it does not do justice to the magnificent surrounding peaks. The perfect shot of Haukland remains elusive.

Haukland sunset panorama

From the calm sheltered beauty of Haukland I proceeded through the tunnel to Uttakleiv, its somewhat wilder neighbour. The sunset colours were still very much in evidence and I expected that I would need to wait around for 2 or 3 hours in order to see auroras.

I had understood that it is usually best to wait at least for the astronomical twilight (when the sun is 12-18 degrees below the horizon) if not the actual night (sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon)... so I was extremely surprised to see that there were very strong auroras already clearly visible while the sunset was still ongoing at Uttakleiv! Maybe this phenomenon is not so unusual at this latitude but it seemed very special to me.

Sunset and aurora borealis at Uttakleiv beach.

The following morning I headed for Hamnøy and Sakrisøy once again. Having explored many wonderful places in Lofoten I still find myself drawn back to these same two villages and have not so far got tired of photographing them.

first light at Hamnøy

Sakrisøy, bathed in morning light, framed by mountain peaks.

After grabbing a couple of hours sleep I revived myself with an 11am latte at Bringen cafe and set off for Fredvang to wonder around on yet another beach.

I had taken my wildlife photography equipment (different camera, huge telephoto lens) along for the trip but not found much chance to use it (reindeer, a white tailed eagle, a harbour seal, a magpie and a sheep had however been captured). One thought (based on advice from Jorma Tenovuo)  had been to head to the island of Røst after my 6 days in Reine but at this time of year the ferry connection is not good, I would have needed to return to Bodø, then wait for a day or two and then travel to Røst before travelling back again. It would have meant extending my trip by 4-5 days just to get a day in Røst... so that is one destination that will need to wait for another time.

I did however see some small birds flitting in and out of the long grass behind the beach at Fredvang, so I set out to try and photograph them. I think that they were rock pipits... maybe someone knows better.

Whatever they were, they were very fast and very nervous, popping up from the long grass and circling a few times before disappearing once again. Luckily one paused on a rock for long enough to have its portrait taken.

A rock pipit... I think.

The Fredvang area is quite typical of the scenery all around Lofoten, remote villages, jagged mountains, an almost completely unspoiled natural environment.

a farmhouse near Fredvang

During my trip I was struck by the effect that the beautiful surroundings were having on people. Each person that I bumped into, whether local or tourist, was quick to smile and say hello and the overall atmosphere was so very friendly and calm. I also caught myself having unusually charitable thoughts towards others and in a much greater danger of smiling... could it be that I was enjoying myself?

That evening I explored Reine after dark, hoping to get a good shot from a place where a small bridge lined up perfectly with an imposing pinnacle of rock.

The shot almost came off... but the strength and colour of the artificial lights caused big challenges and the disturbing power lines (such a curse for all photographers... they are everywhere!) were also something that I had failed to notice in my scouting. We have become so used to seeing those lines in everyday life that we don't actually see them at all... until looking at them in a picture they are spoiling.

​The partial remedy for the colours and lights was to make the shot in black and white... the remedy for the power lines is not yet found.

an imposing peak in Reine at night

My final full day in Lofoten was marked by the best shooting conditions of the whole trip. The perfectly clear skies (beautiful, but sometimes uninteresting) were upgraded to include a few wispy clouds, capturing the sunrise colours and diffusing some of the light with quite beautiful results. Once again I stayed very local, shooting first at Reine about 45 minutes before sunrise, when hints of purple and pink were caught in the clouds...

Reine, at 0630.

... and then moving to the hill at Olenilsøy from where I could shoot along the mountainous coastline as the horizon turned to deeper orange...

the coast of Lofoten, from Olenilsøy, at 0700.

... and then down towards the magical island of Sakrisøy as the orange gave way to brighter yellow.

Sakrisøy, from Olenilsøy, at 0720

After the sun cleared the horizon, there was still a period of very beautiful light with the clouds providing some interest despite the absence of pastel sunrise colours.

The fishermans huts (available as rented accommodation) of Toppøy rorbuer at 0930

While climbing the hill in Olenilsøy I struck up a conversation with a Norwegian photographer who was visiting for the weekend from his home in Bodø. I asked him about locations I might like to visit and he recommended that I drive to see the beaches at Eggum and Unstad, some two hours drive from Reine.

​Having already visited all the locations that I had planned for this seemed like a good idea and I set off after grabbing some breakfast. The beach at Eggum was an interesting destination, as was the scenic village that you drive through on the way, and I hiked along the rocky coast for a few kilometres.

Attractions, besides the coastline itself, included a world war 2 radar station and the 1996 sculpture of a head by Markus Raetz, a Swiss sculptor, painter and illustrator. The sculpture is remarkable in that while it looks like a head from all different angles, it does not look like the same head from all different angles. It is said that there are 16 different views available.

everyone's a critic - the gulls have left their unkind reviews.

from a different angle, the gulls seem more impressed.

After Eggum it was time to visit Unstad, where it was possible to observe large numbers of intrepid surfers riding the impressive waves! This was not a pastime that I would have associated with life inside the arctic circle, but there they were.

an arctic surfer in the afternoon sun

evidently, surfing is hard!

Even on this relatively calm day there were pretty sizeable waves available for these arctic surfers, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was fun to watch them for a while. After making my way back to Reine, it was time to pack my things and make sure that I got a proper nights sleep before the long journey home.

I awoke to a rather different variety of atmospheric conditions to those which I had enjoyed throughout my stay... a storm was in full swing. The winds were steady at 51km/h (31mph, 14m/s) with gusts of over 60km/h and the waves on the coast beside Reine were huge and violent. Perhaps the surfers at Unstad would have been in the next level of paradise, but for me there were some concerns about the ferry I should take later in the day from Moskenes to Bodø - would it still operate and would it be safe if it did?

I spent the day walking around near the villages of Å, Tind and Sørvågen, trying to get some pictures of the waves while not getting too soaked, but neither of those objectives was reached very successfully.

rough seas at Å

That evening I made the rather hair raising ferry crossing from Moskenes to Bodø, along with a couple of hundred other passengers and about 40-50 cars and trucks. The vessel, MF Bodø, weighing nearly 4000 tonnes, was thrown about by the sea on many different axes, as if it was a small rowing boat. While the ferry was heaving, swaying and surging, the passengers were concentrating almost exclusively on the heaving part as the provided sick-bags were in heavy use for multiple travellers from 10 minutes into the journey. The journey lasted 4 hours. I discovered during the journey that I don't suffer from motion sickness, but I believe that I was in the minority. We did however arrive safely in Bodø, from where I drove to Umea, took the ferry to Vaasa and then drove home, arriving 46 hours after I had left Moskenes.

Overall, this was a fantastic trip. I loved being back in Lofoten and it was very much worth going through the long and tough journeys to and from in order to get the chance to be there for a few days. I hope to visit again towards the end of winter.

Still to come this month, another quick visit to Utö and a few days in Amsterdam. Field reports from both locations to follow in due course.

Andy

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P.P.S. - I decided that I would start to include more images in my blog posts and I also reduced the resolution of the images to help with the speed at which the pages would load. In case you want to see higher resolution versions of my images it is worth checking out my 500px page or contacting me through the link at the foot of the page.