Unstad Beach Lofoten Islands

Unstad Beach Lofoten Islands

Photo: Snow covered Unstad beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

A hunch, as well as some minor understanding of Lofoten weather patterns (if such a thing can exist) led me out a of a never ending snow storm to the relative calm at Unstad.  The light was nearly gone from an already short January day, but there was enough.

Unstad Beach Lofoten Islands

Photo: Storm clouds over Unstad beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Lofoten Islands Winter Sunrise

Lofoten islands norway winter sunrise

Photo: January sun shines through empty stockfish racks, Lofoten islands, Norway

These two images are from the 6th of January, when the sun does not fully rise above the horizon on the Lofoten islands.  Normally we’re used to sunrise in the east, sunset in the west.  However, north of the arctic circle, this isn’t really true.  In winter, the sun rises and sets towards the south, where as in summer, it sets towards the north.  In relation to this is that the sun travels much more parallel in relation to the horizon – I wont go into the numbers right now, maybe some other time I’ll bring out the astronomy nerd in me.  So, the result of this for the viewer, or photographer, is that the sun appears to rise and set very slowly.  Or in more practical terms, sunrise/sunset lasts a lot longer that here in California.  On the case of the 6th of January, the sun travels along the southern horizon for about an hour before disappearing once more.  Yep, that’s it, 1 hour of sun for the day.  Just a few days previous, New Years for example, there is no sun at all.  Though it is not far below the horizon, giving a magical twilight light if the skies are clear.

 

Lofoten islands norway winter sunrise

Photo: January winter sun on horizon over Vestfjorden, Lofoten islands, Norway.

Fourth

4th of july fireworks santa barbara 2011

4th of July fireworks over Santa Barbara harbour.  A bit on the weak side this year, so it goes…

Ågvatnet – Å I Lofoten Norway

Ågvatnet lofoten islands norway

Photo: Ågvatnet cloaked in winter snow.  Jan 2010

In my last post I wrote about returning to Ågvatnet to try and make a ‘better’ version of a photo that I like very much, and was good for a 20 year having only ever taken a high school photo class, but by today’s standards is a bit lacking.  Ågvatnet is the small lake behind the village of Å I Lofoten, which is the westernmost village, and end of the road, in the Lofoten islands.  It can be a gnarly tourist trap in summer  – the road ends in a parking lot after a 1.5 lane tunnel and it can be stuffed to the brim with motorhomes on a nice July afternoon.  So I usually avoid the area at this time of year.   Though that being said, I’m not usually on the islands in the summer anyways.

Anyhow, here’s a few images of the lake during other parts of the year: winter, spring, and autumn.  The autumn image is the closest I’ve come to my first photo, yet as you can see the boat is not exactly in top form.  The Rainbow towards the left of the image is from the rain that would soak me in another minute.

Ågvatnet lofoten islands norway

Ågvatnet lofoten islands norway

Ågvatnet lofoten islands norway