October is the month of crazy light situations in Lofoten.
It was a week full of rainbows, dramatic skies, Arctic light that made its way through the clouds illuminating the rough peaks, green and magenta skies during the nights and in this month for the first time of the season the mountains are wearing white hats.
We spent a week photographing all the most beautiful places on the Lofoten islands, an archipelago located inside the Arctic circle unique for its dramatic landscapes.
We had crazy weather, just that kind of difficult weather but that can create some really surreal situations for us landscape photographers.
Between one photo session and another we had a lot of fun thanks to a great group.
If you want to experience this dream, we invites you to join one of our Arctic photography trips!
This trip was planned down to the smallest detail to be the right place at the right time based on the weather and the month of the year.
Day 1, 2, 3
Our adventure started from Leknes airport, from there we reached our seaside villas, where we spent the first 3 nights.
Our first night was really wild, around 11pm the sky opened and we left with our van to reach Vik beach, a few minutes later a fantastic magenta and green Aurora exploded all over the sky! For some guys it was the first time they saw this amazing natural phenomenon, you can imagine the emotion and the feeling! The group enjoyed playing with the reflections that the Aurora created on the wet beach. What a start, we couldn’t have asked for better!
These first days we alternated photo sessions on the northern beaches, Hukland, Vik, Uttakleiv, Unstand and Vareid, with realx sessions in our villas enjoying Arctic relaxation.
As you can see here from the backstage photos we had all the light conditions possible in these beaches, dramatic skies, magenta skies and mountain peaks illuminated by the soft Arctic light.
We also studied various photographic techniques, such as composition, focus stacking and HDR.
Day 4, 5, 6, 7
We moved south to our new cabins located near Hamnøy, another strategic area for photographing the most beautiful spots on the southern tip of the islands.
Here too we had another green night and, this time we photographed the Aurora from the famous bridge with a view over the village of Hamnøy. A classic view but that will never bore anyone, it seems to be inside a fairy tale. A lot of guys tell me: wow but it doesn’t look real!
We have dedicated these three days to photograph the most fairytale villages of the islands, such as Reine and its bay, Å the last village in the southern tip where the famous E10 road ends, Hamnøy and Sakrisøy the village of orange cabins.
With a short trek we reached a view point on a hill where, from up there you can see the fairy tale from above, a view that always leaves you breathless.
Other unique beaches could not be missing such as Skagsanden a real playground for landscape photographers thanks to its drawings and bubbles on the sand, Ramberg and its red cabin and another short trek to reach a couple of waterfalls in front of one of the roughest and most dramatic mountains of all the islands.
We also dedicated time to the edit sessions, editing the shots obtained with the various techniques studied in the field.
Tour leader
Giulio Cobianchi led the group through the wonders of these islands. He is a professional landscape photographer, experienced and specialized in night photography with almost 10 years of experience. He moved to the Lofoten Islands in 2019 to live the dream of magical Arctic nights. He knows the islands like the back of his hand, with him you will be at the right time in the right place. His satisfaction is making your dream come true.
Stefan Liebermann led the group in these incredible islands. He is an award winning professional international landscape photographer specializing in night photography. This passion of his drove him to travel all over the world under the darkest skies ever. He can teach you, like few others, the best secrets to getting high impact night photos.
