Lofoten Trailblazer Adventure
Aurora & Landscape Photography
Lofoten
Trailblazer Adventure
Aurora & Landscape Photography
WHEN: SEPT 23rd through September 30th
WHERE: Areas surrounding Leknes on the Lofoten Isles
WHO: Adventurers! Brave and Patient explorers!
FITNESS LEVEL: ANYONE!
Most locations we will simply pull up with the car and stand on the beachfront view of the skies capturing Aurora over picturesque Norway peaks. But we may have a hike or two. If you can handle hiking then great! If you prefer to just stay down by the car and capture the views of the skies from there you will not be disappointed.
Trailblazer Adventure WITH PHOTOG ADVENTURES
$
1,200
INCLUDES:
Travel Throughout Lofoten in group Vehicle
Travel Conveniences like First Aid, Snacks & Cutlery
Snacks & Drinks while on-site doing Photography
Personal instruction at the camera, critique sessions
DOES NOT INCLUDE:
Flight to Leknes, Norway
AirBNB accommodations - will split as group though!
Food for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - except any sandwich fixings I buy for us
Travel insurance and personal equipment
Alcohol and soft drinks, laundry
- NO REFUNDS! In the event you cannot make this adventure, we will apply your deposit to another future adventure. BE VERY CERTAIN you are AS EXCITED AS I AM about Aurora Photography in Lofoten before you register! :D -Aaron
7-Night Adventure on the Lofoten Islands
TRIP STRATEGY
NOTE: We will be doing both Landscape Photography and Aurora Photography to make the best use of our time.
WHY LOFOTEN, NORWAY?
Because of its position on the Earth!
Remember how awesome the display was in May? That was a KP9.
See the image below showing KP levels and where you'd need to be in Northern America to have Aurora's overhead depending the KP level!
Most nights the KP levels will be average.
For instance, on SpaceWeather.com the reported current KP level is 2.33 and the 24-hour max will possibly reach KP6. If I went out tonight here in Utah I would not see the Aurora. If was in say...the Upper Peninsula area in Michigan I can see the aurora if it gets as big as KP6.
But where should I go if I want to see the Aurora even if it is a paltry KP1??
Lofoten, Norway!!!
The VERY VERY high in latitude Lofoten islands puts us in a position to see Aurora even if it was a minimal KP1!
This would make seven nights there a near guarantee that we will see Aurora should the sun cooperate and the clouds not ruin the night!
MOON AND WEATHER IN LOFOTEN
This is a curious part about Lofoten. Something I have never experienced before: the Circumpolar Moon!
In this GIF that I created from Stellarium, you can see how the Moon on our first night September 23rd will barely dip below the horizon for only a little while.
The reality of Aurora and the Moon is that even a FULL MOON can still reveal Aurora. It just needs to not be directly on top of the Aurora. We won't have a Full Moon during this week, we will have a moon that is WANING GIBBOUS through to a WANING CRESCENT.
The moon will provide GREAT LIGHT for our Landscape and actually be a HUGE BENEFIT!
But we will also have nights where the moon is entirely gone so we will experience the best of both worlds!
For instance, on Sunday night we will have our longest stretch without the moon when it sets at 7:14pm and doesn't rise again until Monday at 3:15am.
How Cold will it be?
We will be there in end of September while the weather is mild going in to the winter season. Even the winter in Lofoten can have mild nights by comparison since it will only get below freezing some nights.
Typical Leknes, Norway temperatures in Sept/Oct are HIGHs of 52 degrees and LOWs of 38 degrees.
The WIND will be our biggest annoyance. THAT wind alone will be what keeps us feeling really cold. So dress with great layers and windbreakers!
WHERE WILL WE GO?
Being as this will be a "Trailblazer Adventure" we want to keep things simple but versatile.
My easiest way to prepare you for what we will be doing in September is to show you the picture above and say that our goal is to find the great views of the Aurora between Riene and Uttakleiv Beach.
As a group we will explore during the days to find compositions that we just adore as Landscape Photographers and then depending on where the clouds are and auroras we will bring those landscape compositions to life with the addition of Auroras!
Should we have a night of just KP1 we will need to look North for our only views of Aurora. If we get a KP5+ night we will have horizon to Horizon Auroras and will have all directions as an option of where to point our cameras!
That drive from Reine to Uttakleiv Beach is just over an hour long in the vehicle. It will not be that stressful to drive around and not exhausting at all.
Our biggest concern will be weather and road conditions. If we end up just staying at our AirBNB because of conditions, depending on the AirBNB we choose, we will have views right from outside our windows!!
AirBNB accommodations
To save on money and stick together as a group, I recommend we group up in an AirBNB.
Due to this being a Trailblazer Adventure, we all pay for our own accommodations.
You MAY stay at a hotel if you would like.
However, I recommend we group up so that when the aurora goes off at 3am I can just run around screaming AURORA!! and wake all of you up and we go out. haha well, it won't be like that, but it would be easier to keep us all together to blitz off at a moment's notice.
PLUS! The cost of these AirBNBs are actually quite affordable for our times as of checking today!
This one for only 1412 before taxes, would be simply $200 a person if split with seven people. There are six beds in that option and I could take the couch and then we all have the TINY COST of around $200 for SEVEN NIGHTS in Norway!!
THAT would be terrific! So I highly recommend an AirBNB with all of us.
FLYING OUT TO LOFOTEN
Getting to Lofoten is not straightforward but not difficult either.
Simply put, GET TO Bodø, Norway and fly to Leknes.
My recommendation is to fly in to Oslo with the cheapest or most comfortable option you can find. From Oslo the flight to Bodø is typically round trip $114 to $200.
I just did a new search for Oslo to Bodø and got a direct flight for only $114 for September 23rd and returning on the 30th.
The flight to Leknes is merely 30 mins long. Going with Widerøe it is only $87 roundtrip same dates.
So not counting what your flight costs are from your home to Oslo, the flights to Leknes will be somewhere around $250 to get to where I will pick you up.
SOUVENIRS
Shrug. A hat? You make the call! Spend as much as you can carry back home! :D
So really once you have your seat reserved in the workshop, you only need to factor in FLIGHT, SHARED COSTS OF AIRBNB lodgings with the group, FOOD and anything you want to buy!
If you have any questions, please get in touch with me by email at aaron@PhotogAdventures.com.
- September 23rd through 30th
- Meet in Leknes Group is picked up by me at the Airport in Leknes, Norway Monday the 23rd. Accommodating everyone's different flight arrivals.
- Staying in nearby AirBNB as a group Most likely ALL of the group will choose to stay in the AirBNB and options I have found work for locations we plan to catch Aurora from or within 1-hour of great Aurora viewpoints plus interesting landscape foreground. Reine will be our furthermost southern destination with exploration even beyond as an option. For the most part we will keep our travel between Reine and Uttakleiv Beach but of course as road/weather conditions permit, we will have many options throughout the Lofoten Islands.
-
Aurora traditionally gets great by Midnight local time but with this Solar Maximum in 2024, we could experience a broader window of opportunity!
- Our goal is to capture EVERY SUNSET and SUNRISE we have the waking energy for along with capturing AURORA when it is visible. Aurora is obviously the MAIN PRIORITY so we will rest through sunrises when exhausted enough. We will likely be very close to our AirBNB during the day, so there will be sleeping opportunities as needed.
-
Typical Sunset that week: 6:45pm
BEST Aurora window: 10pm thru 4am twilight dawn
Lofoten is at KP1
Lofoten is great for Aurora since a simple geomagnetic storm of KP1 could be visible!
Need Help? Contact me at:
aaron@photogadventures.com
Aaron King
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you bring?
Lofoten in September is decently warm in the daytime but can be cold throughout the night, come ready for anything! This is what I recommend to bring with you:
- Camera with manual mode
- Lenses you need are anything from 8mm-85mm and the largest aperture possible, f1.2 to f3.5 are great options for Astro! For LANDSCAPES you can use anything from Wide to Telephoto!
- Sturdy Tripod (REQUIRED!) make sure it is STURDY enough
- L-Bracket (Optional) - Best for Panoramas and switching orientation
-
Focusing Aid (Carson Lumiloupe: https://amzn.to/2lDwFjz)
- Batteries – Fully charged at least 4 a day
- Memory Cards – minimum 4 cards of 64GB each
-
ND & graduated filters (recommended)
-
Lens Cloths
- WINTER CLOTHING for staying warm during the coldest hours of night and standing in the wind!
-
Gloves
-
Good Hiking Boots
-
Water Proof Socks (Optional) for any water we may stand in
-
Water Proof jacket & Pants
- Laptop (OPTIONAL) for post-processing (Lightroom & Photoshop)
Flying, Driving & Hotels?
Flying in?
I love SkyScanner.com. It has found me great one-way hops that save me lots of money. I haven't gotten my flight yet but I definitely recommend Skyscanner. Getting to Lofoten is not straightforward but not difficult either. Simply put, GET TO Bodø, Norway and fly to Leknes. Flights out of Bodø will be limited to morning ONLY! Last flight typically by 12:30pm. So plan accordingly. My recommendation is to fly in to Oslo with the cheapest or most comfortable option you can find. From Oslo the flight to Bodø is typically round trip $114 to $200. I just did a new search for Oslo to Bodø and got a direct flight for only $114 for September 23rd and returning on the 30th. The flight to Leknes is merely 30 mins long. Going with Widerøe it is only $87 roundtrip same dates. So not counting what your flight costs are from your home to Oslo, the flights to Leknes will be somewhere around $250 to get to where I will pick you up.
Driving?
I will be renting a vehicle for all of us to drive in. With SIX of us total we have the space of two missing people plus cargo to hold all of our gear. With the fact that we just came off the plane, we all shouldn't have too much. BRING LUGGAGE THAT CAN FIT UNDER SEATS keep it simple for all of us to be comfortable and have easy access to our gear. The fuel costs will be covered by the tuition as well.
Hotels or AirBNBs?
AIRBNB is my recommendation. Sharing a home between all six of us will typically come to somewhere around $200 a person for the ENTIRE WEEK!
I found one for only $1412 before taxes and that would be simply $200 a person if split with seven people. There are six beds in that option and I could take the couch and then we all have the TINY COST of around $200 for SEVEN NIGHTS in Norway!!
I found one for only $1412 before taxes and that would be simply $200 a person if split with seven people. There are six beds in that option and I could take the couch and then we all have the TINY COST of around $200 for SEVEN NIGHTS in Norway!!
THAT would be terrific! So I highly recommend an AirBNB with all of us.
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7-Day Aurora in Lofoten, Norway Trailblazer Adventure
You are buying a SEVEN-DAY Photog Adventures Aurora Trailblazer Adventure that includes:
- Travel Throughout Lofoten in group Vehicle
- Travel Conveniences like First Aid, Snacks & Cutlery
- Snacks & Drinks while on-site doing Photography
- Personal instruction at the camera, critique sessions and post processing sessions during the day while we wait for night to do Milky Way Photography
NOT INCLUDED IN THE WORKSHOP FEE:
- Flight to Leknes, Lofoten
- AirBNB accommodations - will split as group though!
- Food for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
- Travel insurance and personal equipment
- Alcohol and soft drinks, laundry
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