Prior to 2017, I had visited Iceland 3 times: once in the summer and twice in the winter. I wanted to go back again to explore more ice-caves and see more aurora but Rebecca convinced me that I should do Norway instead. We compromised: a stopover in Iceland on our way to Norway. We invited Andy along, partially because I wanted his help actually planning the trip, but also because we thought he’d enjoy the views and the photography. Turned out he had another, even better idea: skiing. Our 7 day Norway photography trip became a 5 day one, with 2 days of backcountry skiing tacked on.
He found a ski lodge in the eastern part of the Lofotens. A beautiful lodge provided a home base while trained alpine guides took you out to mountains. We had never done backcountry skiing (also known as “ski touring”) before so it was a great way to get our feet “wet”. They had gear to rent to us, so we didn’t have to significantly increase our packed luggage.
The ski lodge was in a quaint fishing village off the main road. As we turned off to arrive we came across this beautiful scene of mountain peaks (from left-to-right: Vågakallen, Kallebordet, Glomtinden (main peak), Nordfjellet, Nattmålskaret, Lyngværfjellet, Høgtinden). The fjord crossed this little bridge and would reflect the mountain peaks. So when the aurora started going off while we ate dinner, we raced back to this spot to capture the lights over the peaks. This was one of my favorite spots to sit and watch the aurora dance.
Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8:
20mm, f/2.8, 6 sec, ISO 3200
