Ever since I went on my first trip to Norway I've been waiting to go back. And as a bonus, I wanted more. Mountains! Norther lights! Ice and snow! The question was only when and where to go, as there are a lot of options.
I'm sure many of you have seen multiple images with the aurora in them; I had too. The auroras are best visible way up north, past the polar circle. A big part of Northern Finland gets auroras, but... I had also read this post about shooting eagles on the Lofoten islands. Can't really beat that combination. Lofoten it was.
The next question was when to go. During winter, obviously, but when can you see Northern Lights? Turns out they are visible for most of winter, from November to March. What is more important than the month is the weather, so I looked at the historical weather information for the region. As most of Norway, the Lofoten islands are at the mercy of Northern Atlantic weather, meaning lots and lots of wind and rain. Typically, November and December are not very good for aurora spotting because of cloud cover. January is better, but still a bit random. February and March are best, because the weather typically clears towards the end of winter and there is a much greater chance of having clear skies. Of those two, I chose March, because the longer day duration (6 hours early February vs 8 hours in the beginning of March) and the fact that Scandinavian schools have long vacations in February.
I had the location and the time of year. But I didn't really have any idea where to go. So, I spent a few months on google, 500px and flickr looking at pictures and geography, planning possible locations. As the plan solidified, I decided to split my trip between three locations; Tromso, Senja and Lofoten. The reason was that I wanted to see Tromso and it was practically on the way. Also, Thomas Heaton had done a travel vlog from Senja a year ago, and I wanted to see that location. I also had a few replies on a photography forum that said Senja was a great location for northern lights. And then there was Lofoten itself. It was going to be a very long trip, but I felt confident.
Turku to Tromso. Long, but doable in two days.
Leknes on Lofoten, Finnsæter on Senja, and Tromso. Lots and lots of mountains and fjords.
When planning locations, I typically use Google maps and the Photograher's Ephemeris to get a sense on how the location looks. I was looking for vantage points for sunrise and sunset; the rest of the day has worse light and I'd be driving around the areas anyway, finding photos organically. Having a bunch of pre-validated locations meant that I didn't need to stress about those key shots, just choose a spot to drive to. As an example, I had two sunrises while staying in Tromso. Weather permitting, that's two photos; but where?
The sunrise hits these mountains in a nice angle when viewed from the south bank.
The satellite images in Google maps allow me to find mountains with clear lines to sunrise or sunset. Then, I can look at street view to get an idea of how the view looks like; however, since those images are taken with fisheye lenses they don't represent the view exactly. But, for the mountains above, I saw that the south bank of the fjord looked good. There's a clear view to the mountains, and I even found a foreground on the satellite images.
In the end, I did this for around fifteen locations. Some worked in real life, some didn't. If google maps has actual photos in addition to the street view, that typically gives you a better idea of the location, since those typically aren't taken with super wide angles. In any case, all this is a lot of work. I have a document full of links, screenshots and coordinates, which came in very handy during the trip.
The last question was the gear. I already have all the gear I need for almost every situation. The trouble was the 'almost'; the only place where my gear doesn't excel is the night sky. And since I wanted aurora pictures, I had to do something about that. Luckily, I have a friend who graciously loaned me his full frame Nikon kit (thanks Henrik!), and I went out and bought a new wide angle for it based on recommendations from pro aurora photogs. In all, I took quite a lot of stuff with me, but I ended up using everything except my last-ditch reserve lens, so it wasn't that bad. And since I was traveling the whole way by car, the weight wasn't an issue either.
So, umm, yeah. It's fine. From top left; Nikon charger, cable releases, filters and adapter rings, Tamron 15-30, Nikon 200-500 on my Nikon D7100, Nikon D750, Neweer travel charger. Tamron 70-200, Nikon 18-200, Nikon 10-24, Nikon 35, Nikon 50, Manfrotto tripod and head, and a GoPro 3. Plenty of batteries and memory cards too. Also, lots of clothes. And I used all of it.
So, 5223 kilometers in the car, 355 liters of fuel and 14 days later, was it worth it? Absolutely. I've said this before, but it's even more true now; I love Norway. The area is breathtakingly beautiful. Rugged, impassable, dangerous, extreme, lonely and serene. It's a landscape photographers paradise. The weather was everything from brutal to beautiful, chilling to balmy. On the same day I drove through one of the worst blizzards I've ever seen, and blue skies. I had to wade through knee-high snow to get the picture, or stop at a parking lot to get one of similar beauty.
And on top of all those experiences, I got some nice images. I'll show them in the coming posts, but here is a brief teaser. I hope I can do Lofoten justice in my own little way; I think it's simply not possible to convey the full sense of the place by simple images alone.
The location I showed above. That one worked. It worked very, very well.