LUMINIOUS LOFOTEN SOME OF MY FAVORITES FROM NORWAY'S AWESOME ARCTIC ISLANDS

Svolvær Was Our Home Base

It's where we stayed the last time we were (on vacation), and it seemed like the perfect spot for a home base for my workshop. We even stayed at the same hotel (The Nordis Suites). The location is second-to-none, right in the captial of the Lofoten Islands, and close to so many great shooting locations.

It was my friend and KelbyOne Instructor, Dave Williams, who was my inspiration for returning to Lofoten in the first place – he said if I ever came back, he'd help me (and my co-instructor Mimo Meidany) put on the best workshop ever, and help he did. He was absolutely fantastic! Dave runs a photo tour company right there in Lofoten (called "Lofoten Insight") and he's an absolute expert on the area, and in particular, shooting the Northern LIghts (he's the author of one of the leading books on the subject – the third edition is about to be released). Dave lives right there in Svolvær, and if you're thinking of going, you'll definitely want to contact Dave – he works his butt off, and he knows all the best locations, has tons of insights, he's a longtime pro photographer, and he speaks Norwegian. He's the real deal. So is his guide partner Alfredo, who was with us all week. Totally awesome guy (and a pretty incredible photographer and guide in his own right). Can't recommend them, and Lofoten Insights, enough.

ABOVE: This scene is a short 2-minute walk from the front door of our hotel in Svolvær. A long exposure with a 10-stop ND filter helped make the water look even more still.

It took three different airlines (Delta, SAS, and Wideroe airlines) and five separate flights, over two days (and a few long layovers) to get there. Still...totally worth it!

Above: The planes keep getting smaller and smaller, but I could still fit my camera bag in the overhead bin somehow.

Check Out "Photo Team Lofoten"

Here's a group shot of my workshop crew posiing in front of the scene you saw at the very top of this page. Some really fantastic folks in that crew right there! (below)

Above: The mighty Lofoten Photo Crew: Front row (from L to R): Jon, Kelly, John, Susan. (back row): Miles, Jen, Yours Truly, Kent, Dan, Daniel (kinda hidden), JP, Susan, and Brian.

Above: Here's a three-shot pano taken from an overpass overlooking one of the classic scenes in Lofoten.

Above: We set up a shoot for our group at a rocky beach not far from our home base featuring Andrea, a wonderful local model along with her awesome doggo "Amelia."

Above: Here's how we got her wind-blown hair look – Mimo fanning our subject with a reflector.

Above: Andrea has a very "Game of Thrones" look in this one.

Above: Here's a behind-the-scene shot of the crew during the shoot.

This is Dave Williams – I have no idea how to explain this. None. But, I'll say this – he looks proud to be a fake Norweigen.

We had one day with just perfect weather and this small fishing village, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was one of our first stops.

Check out this shot video (below) from that village. It really gives you an idea what it was like standing right there (shot with my iPhone).

This little shack is a very popular spot on Instagram. We wound up driving right past it on our way back to home base, so we jumped out and got a quick shot.

Right after lunch, right in the parking lot of where we had a famous fish soup lunch, Dave pointed out this very cool scene, where the cabin mimics the mountain behind it.

I took this one during our scouting trip before the crew arrived. We had planned on doing a shoot with a Viking in this locaiton but time and weather ran out on us.

Here's Dave again, showing his fake Norweigeness (I'm not sure that's even a word, but it should be).

We shot this church twice – the first time we got rained out right as we arrived, so after our day-long decent weather day, we went back out to try again and the weather worked with us this time.

Dramatic skies helped make the scene (much better than the solid gray we had last time).

What's Norway Without a Viking?

Dave had a connection with a wonderful model from the Netherland named Roel Van Mierlo, and we flew him in to do a shoot for our workshop group. Totally cool guy, very serious about his look (his poses, and his outfits are so detailed – custom made for him). He's kind of a legend in the Viking Cosplay community and we were lucky to get him for our group.

His poses were fantastic, and he was so willing and up for whatever – like climing up on top of a large boulder (better seen in the next shot).

Above: here's the crew shooting "A Viking on a Boulder.," Something you just don't see every day, yea know?

This was about a 1-minute walk from our home base hotel in Svolvær.

Above: Some shots from around our home base, and from our day-long good weather journey.

Above: Dave, the undisputed king of the selfies, posing with the crew, and Rhul our Viking, and for some reason Daniel Yu is wearing his fur covering. This type of stuff happens routinely around Dave.

A RAINY DAY BACKUP PLAN

The weather during the workshop was...well..let's say "unpredictable" and we got rained out on a few occasions, but luckily, with Dave's help, we had a backup plan for rainy days – in this case, we had our Viking change into a fisherman look, and we shot him in natural light in an authentic fisherman's cabin (as seen below).

Behind the scene shot from the previous image.

Above: in the cabin's Wet Room, with a little bit of light behind our subject, and just the light from the lantern. He makes a pretty intense fisherman.

THE VIEW FROM ABOVE

There were a couple of time where we were able to put a drone to get a few shots, and here's one showing the same bridges and mountain you just saw in the previoius image, but from above.

The Lofoten Islands were born for panos (this is just a three-shot pano, taken wide).

You either have to shoot over the railing, or through it.

That's Mimo in that last shot, sitting in for the fisherman while he was changing outfits. He looks pretty legit.

SOME MORE OF THE CREW OUT ON LOCATION

We were all over that island – especially on the day where we had clear skies and no rain, so we hit the road first thing in the morning, and we drove and shot all day long, into the night, and it was glorious! Here's a few from the island.

Above: That bottom one is us enjoying hot chocolate and some snackaboos, courtesy of Dave.

A WEEK I'LL NEVER FORGET!

The Crew having a great dinner (that's Alfredo right side, right next to Dave).

The location was great, the food was wonderful, the photography opportunities were everywhere, but it was the people we were with, our photo crew, along with Mimo, Dave and Alfredo that made the week so memorable. When you put a group of great people together, who all have the love of travel and photography, and they're ready to learn and laugh, it creates something very special, and I feel blessed to have been a part of it.

Above: That's us in between shoots in the classroom working on our post-processing.

I'm so grateful to my dear friend Mimo Meidany for doing yet another workshop with me. He is the best. The best! Dave and Alfredo were fantastic and worked their butts off to make sure our group got amazing shots, and they drove us all over (safely I might add), and turned us on to places we wouldn't have found ourselves. It was just a fantastic experience all the way around, and it's a week I'll never forget.

Above: The best image of the week, as voted on by the crew, wins an award, and here's our winner – that's John Myers whose awesome black and white portrait was loved by everybody!

Daniel is seen here on the right with the crew wearing a Viking fur. Like a boss! :)

Thanks so much for letting me share my workshop trip with you. :)

PHOTO INFO: All images taken with a Canon R6 II with a 24-240mm f/4-f/6.3 lens, and an iPhone 14 Pro, and a DJI Drone. Behind the Scenes shots courtesy of Mimo and Dave.