Tom and I have always had a special attraction to the Northern Lights. We couldn't pass up the chance to photograph aurora in the jagged Lofoten Islands in Norway. If the skis clear at night in the Lofoten islands, the aurora can be spectacular.
Fortunately, we had excellent weather for our workshop. We drove from Harstad to our lodging in Mortsund passing one snowy, sunlit scene after another. We spent the week staying in scenic red cabins right on the ocean.
As luck would have it, the aurora was out for us for four nights in a row. After fine tuning our focus and settings on the first night, we switched locations each evening. Our favorite scene was photographing a dazzling aurora over Olstind Peak in the town of Reine.
In addition to rugged mountainous terrain, the fishing villages in the Lofoten Islands are quite charming. In one evening we set up at a scenic overlook above the town of Reine and photographed civil twilight, the blue hour and northern lights over the fjord.
Tom is an ambassador for Singh Ray filters and never travels without his ND filters. We photographed several scenes using ND filters to slow down moving clouds and moving waves in our landscapes
We arrived in the fishing village of Henningsvar in a blizzard. Twenty minutes later the skies cleared just in time to photograph the scenic harbor.
Norway has some of the most spectacular fjords in the world. In Lofoten, there is a fjord around almost every curve in the road. This was our favorite spot for photographing sunset.
For the last two days of the workshop the weather switched to snow and moody skies. We sought out remote locations with splashes of color to show the solitary nature of the homesteads.
Thanks to all of the workshop photographers for joining us in Lofoten. We will be photographing aurora in Alaska in 2024 and 2025 and in Finland and Sweden in 2025. Let us know if you are interested in joining us!
Credits:
Tom Bol , Cree Bol, Keith Eisele