Lofoten Photography Workshop - Arctic Solstice 2016

Lofoten Photography Workshop – Arctic Solstice – June 2016

Lofoten Photography Workshop - Arctic Solstice 2016

ARCTIC SOLSTICE – LOFOTEN OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

June 18 – 24, 2016

Summer is when the Lofoten Islands are most alive. So I invite you to join me and experience the magic of the midnight sun while exploring some of Lofoten’s most iconic mountain views. We will hike through flower filled meadows on our way to views of white sand beaches and azure waters – so inviting that the bravest of you might even attempt a swim!

We will become nocturnal on this workshop and time will cease to be of much importance. Our goal is to hike to scenic mountain views and photograph the hours-long sunset to sunrise which occurs around midnight. And when our legs are tired, we might pick up a grill and spend an evening around a bbq and campfire with our cameras shooting time-lapses down by the sea.

This is a photography workshop about experiencing the best of Lofoten’s outdoors.

More info and booking | Arctic Solstice

Video – The Sea To Tasiilaq

Video: The Sea To Tasiilaq

I have put together a short little video about the sailing expedition I joined in August 2015 from the Westfjords of Iceland to Tasiilaq, Greenland.  I have already published to photo gallery, so here’s a bit of movement and behind the scenes of the trip.

The expedition was organized and operated by Rubicon 3 Sailing, a British based company that focuses on sailing education while exploring adventurous destinations around the world, including: Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, Madeira, the Azores, and beyond.

Lofoten - Northern Lights

Video – Lofoten – Northern Light

Timelapse: Lofoten – Northern Light

I’m a little late in publishing the news here, but I recently released a another video about Lofoten, this time focusing on summer and autumn. Title Lofoten – Northern Light, it is mostly time lapse sequences taken between 2013 and 2015 during my multiple visits to the islands.

If you like some of the light and locations that you see, think about joining me on my photo workshop in September 2016…

Rays of light illuminate Kråkhammartind (732m) from summit of Markan (602m), Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Podcast Interview – The Traveling Image Makers Podcast

Rays of light illuminate Kråkhammartind (732m) from summit of Markan (602m), Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Last light over Kråkhammartind, Lofoten Islands, Norway. September 2014

There is an interview with me on a new travel and photography podcast called The Traveling Image Makers, by Ugo Cei from Italy. We had a brief conversation last week about – can you guess(?) – Lofoten…

Here is a link to the website, or you can also search for it in the iTunes stores.

New Greenland Gallery

Photo: Sailing off the east coast of Greenland. August 2015

I’ve added a gallery of images from Greenland: CHECK IT OUT HERE

I have also put out a short video from the trip: CHECK IT OUT HERE

I photographed the trip for Rubicon 3 sailing, an expedition sailing company based out of the UK with an emphasis on training and education while taking guest to wild and remote parts of the world. The Greenland expedition began is Isafjordur, in the remote Westfjords of Iceland. We spent a week plus exploring Iceland’s fjords while waiting for the ice to clear and a good weather window to make the 72 hour crossing of the Denmark Straight to Tasiilaq, a remote village on the east coast of Greenland.

2015 experienced a cooler than normal summer, so the sea ice remained along the coast of Greenland later into the season than normal, leaving us wondering if we could actually make it to port. But as we arrived off the coast after 3 days at sea, we were able to weave our way through the ice into Kong Oscars Havn and moor up in Tasiilaq, were we enjoyed several days of perfect weather and I was even able to get to the summit of a decent mountain for some nice views across the icy coastline.

Overall, it was a trip to remember, and I think I might now have the ‘Greenland bug.’  Hopefully I can return again one of these days…

Sierra Nevada Mountains, California

Happy Birthday To My Blog – 10 Years!

Sierra Nevada Mountains, California

Lundy Canyon, Eastern Sierra, California. October 2005

Today I have to make a special announcement: Happy birthday to my blog! I can hardly believe it, but my first blog post was 10 years ago today!

On October 11, 2005 a younger version of me was a week away from flying to New Zealand on a working holiday visa good for a year. I had finished university in August, quit my job as the manager of a small video store, moved out of my apartment and sold/gave away most of the stuff I owned at the time.

With a couple weeks to kill before heading off on a new adventure in life, I made one last trip to the Eastern Sierra to have one last chance to photograph the autumn colors. The images from that trip were my first blog post.

I can’t remember what my expectations in life where back then, but I’m not sure I would have imagined myself typing these words from a small apartment in the German mountain town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, only just back home from 3 weeks hiking among the fantastic autumn colors of the Kungsleden trail in northern Sweden and a month after seeing my first iceberg while photographing a sailing expedition from Iceland to Greenland and back.

I’ve visited 29 countries in these last 10 years, with much of my focus being on Norway’s Lofoten Islands and my other website dedicated to them: www.68north.com

With 2016 seemingly just around the corner, I find myself working away on the beginnings of another travel site dedicated to The North. More on that to come in the following months. First I need to talk about Iceland, Greenland, and the Kungsleden. Plus my moving here to Germany in May – which hasn’t exactly been as smooth of a process as I would have hoped. Stay tuned…

And here’s to another 10 years! If I can somehow figure out how to make things work just a little longer…

Hiking Kungsleden trail in Autumn, Sweden

Kungsleden Trail 2015

Six years since I first started walking south from Abisko through the autumn forests and arctic tundra of Sweden’s Kungsleden trail, I will be making the journey again. This time I will be part of a team of four, and our goal, Hemavan, 440 kilometres to the south.

The team will consist of me, Cody – the photographer, my partner Justyna – the blogger, and the traveling couple of Theo – the filmmaker, and Bee – the writer, the duo behind vdubvanlife.com. I met and briefly traveled with them on Lofoten last year and they were also the first visitors at my new flat in Germany in May, as they were making their way home from a year on the road in Europe in their, can you guess, VW van.

Theo and Bee have also recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help them get some necessary gear for the trip. Often with a week+ between power, the trip is going to require a lot of batteries and memory cards. They are also giving away some prizes, so go check them out.

Unlike the last few times in which I have visited the Kungsleden, during which I also combined with visits to other areas of Scandinavia/Europe, this trip will be dedicated to the trail alone. This is one of the reasons I moved to Germany in the spring, so I could focus better on the individual projects I have planned, as I have gotten a bit weary of the 3-6 month backpacking trips as my 30th birthday drifts further into the past.  This also gives me the benefit of being able to pack lighter, as I don’t have to worry about splitting my time on the trail and in cities/hostels.

September 2nd will be the day we head south, into the wilds of the Swedish arctic, hopefully with the sun bright overhead. Well, hopefully anything but rain really; I’m from California, I don’t like rain. I have hiked this northern section of the trail twice, but it is a landscape that I don’t think I will ever tire of, especially in autumn when the trees are golden yellow and the tundra foliage a mix of oranges and reds. If all goes well, we will find ourselves reaching Hemavan around four weeks later.

Many of you reading this are probably familiar with my 68north.com website, focusing on Norway’s Lofoten Islands. I was a bit hasty when starting the site in 2010 and was a bit small in my focus. Even though Lofoten was, and still is, one of my biggest interests, I have long had plans for something more. A bigger photography and hiking site dedicated to all areas north.

Like Lofoten, the more time I spend in other parts of the northern Scandinavian landscapes, the more I know I will return again and again. There is simply so much out there to see and walk. If I’m lucky in life, when I’m 60 years old, I’ll be like one of the old German guys I often meet wandering alone on the trail. With stories about the autumn of 1980-something that was so warm they spent 2 weeks in a t-shirt, or the cool summer when they were still in knee-deep snow in July.

And so choosing the Kungsleden this year will be the start of another project set to keep me occupied in my spare time over the following years, in which I’ll hopefully be able to add another Scandinavia region to each year. Keep an eye out in the autumn for a new website…

As my gear lists always seem popular, HERE is what I will be carrying on the trail this year.

Hiking Kungsleden trail in Autumn, Sweden

2015 Gear List

Hiking Kungsleden trail in Autumn, Sweden

Photo: Hiking the Kungsleden trail in autumn, September, 2012

I’ve now added a new hiking – backpacking gear article for my 2015 hike on Sweden’s Kungsleden trail. While there are a few updates from the last couple years, as I’m planning to hike the entire 440 kilometers of the trail, I’m using a lot of my tried and trusted gear from the last few years. Nothing new or experimental this time.

You can checkout the 2015 gear guide HERE.

Lofoten Winter Photography Workshop

New Lofoten Time Lapse VIdeo

Lofoten Winter

I’ve put together a short video and some time lapse footage from the last couple winters on Lofoten – Mostly 2015 with a bit of 2014.  In the video there’s a short scene of driving during hurricane Ole in February. Near zero visibility and blasting snow, I forgot how scary that was, and despite the cold, I was fully sweating by the time I made it back to Stamsund!

If you like what you see, I’ll be guiding two winter photo workshops on Lofoten in 2016, you can checkout my WORKSHOPS page for more info. For the first workshop I will be a co-guide on a tour run by Muench Workshops from January 21 – 30. More than just Lofoten, we will also journey up to Vesterålen for a couple days on boats for whale photography.

The 2nd photo workshop will be run by me also, and remain only on Lofoten, but we will try and get to Bunes beach if the weather cooperates, a fantastic location that few people visit in winter.  This tour will take place from February 14 – 21. And as a special offer, there is a very substantial discount on this tour is you sign up to my email list and register before the end of August. *wink wink

Lofoten Winter Photography Workshop

2016 Lofoten Winter Photography Workshop

Lofoten Winter Photography Workshop

I’m super happy to announce that I will be hosting my own photo workshop on Lofoten this winter: February 14 – 21, 2016.

You can find more info about the workshop here: Exploring Lofoten – Winter Photo Workshop 2016

Guiding my own workshops on Lofoten has been a long time dream of mine – you can see the business plan I wrote back in 2011, but until now I was never able to cover all the legal aspects of running a workshop to keep everything legitimate as it needs to be. However, now that I’ve been able to obtain residency in Germany, as well as teaming up with a local business on Lofoten, things can finally get underway.

And if you sign up to my email list by August, there is a substantial early bird discount for the workshop. 🙂