Part of the reason for visiting the Lofoten Islands in Norway was to see the northern lights again. So when we saw the lights finally start to come out at the end of our trip, while eating dinner, we finished quickly and hopped in the car. Throughout the night we ended up nearly an hour and a half away, back near the town of Leknes. We were supposed to have our first day of backcountry skiing the next morning so we wanted to get some sleep and made our way back to the lodge.
The aurora came out and went away throughout our hunting attempts. For a while it completely disappeared and we were content to go home and get some sleep. But at one point on the drive it came back out and I saw this mountain peak and screamed for Andy to find a spot to pull over. Once in a safe spot, he and Rebecca took a nap while I walked out to the shoreline and took some pictures.
I was rather fortunate in that this was an unplanned, unspotted spot that turned out a nice surprise: frozen ice. There was a little rocky beach that gave me a place for unobstructed views and when I got out there, I saw the water had frozen into tons of cracked patterns. In the rush to capture the lights before they went away again, and to get back to bed, I forgot to take a photo focused on the foreground ice, so it ended up a bit blurry. It’ll have to suffice but I loved the little scene. The tall peak here is called “Svarttinden” and a beautiful long bridge connects it to the next set of islands.
Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8:
24mm, f/2.8, 6 sec, ISO 1600
