The Lofoten Islands are an archipelago located on the northwest coast of Norway above the Arctic Circle. This area is chock full of mountains, fjords, beaches, quaint fishing villages and picturesque churches.
My wife and I visited this photography wonderland in late February 2024. There are gorgeous compositions everywhere! Even though it was the middle of winter, we had plenty of light to photograph. The sun rose between 07:30 and 08:00, set between 16:30 and 17:00, and stayed relatively low to the horizon, providing great light all day.
In contrast, if you were in Lofoten in mid-January, the sun rose at 10:45 am and set at 13:45, which is a big difference. The temperatures were also interesting as they stayed in a narrow range with a low of 34F to a high of 38F (1C to 3C). The moderate temperatures were due to the Gulf Stream patterns. While the temperatures were manageable, the wind can be brutal. My wife was walking through a parking lot at one of the many beaches when the wind gusted, spun her around and slammed her onto the parking lot. She survived with a few bruises and a broken lens hood.
A lot of the snow and ice was starting to melt at ground level due to the warmer temperatures and quite a bit of rain that hit us for a couple of days. As the ice in the shallow ends of the fjords weakened, it began to break up. At low tide, the ice would sink to the bottom of the fjord and begin cracking as it went from horizontal to sitting on the sloped fjord beds. This created some very interesting patterns in the ice.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor