It was a bucket list item for me, a trip to the Lofoten Islands of Norway for a chance to experience the Northern Lights. Not only was I rewarded with amazing displays of the Aurora Borealis, but I also discovered a tiny fishing village on the Norwegian coast that reminded me of the fishing traditions near my home in southern Louisiana.
fishing traditions
I spent eight days in the village of Ulvagen, Norway. It’s located on the eastern coast of Stormolla, a mountainous island six-miles long and three-miles wide, about 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the Lofoten Islands. Family friends Asbjorn Jacobsen and his wife Britt invited me to stay with them at their cabin. This secluded village, accessible only by ferry, is where Asbjorn grew up. His father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers all lived here as fishermen. Instead of fishing, Asbjorn’s career involved working on drilling rigs in the North Sea.
a familiar collection
Asbjorn took me to a small boathouse located along the bay. Inside, it felt very familiar to me, with a collection of traditional fishing gear. There were old handmade fish nets, a long line of hooks for catching cod, glass floats, fishing lures and oars for a boat. I was reminded of a story I did a year earlier along Bayou Lafourche in the town of Galliano, Louisiana. There, Coonie Lefort showed me his private collection of traditional fishing nets and hardware, old oars, wooden pirogues and fishing spears. It was a connection from a half a world away, of two small fishing communities where people settled and spent their lives fishing to feed their families and earn a living. “These people lived hard lives,” Lefort told me, adding, “they would live off the fat of the land. “It’s the same thing here,” Asbjorn said, “living off the nature.” (see Coonie Lefort’s Cajun Collection)
fishing collections featured on tv
the northern lights of norway
The Northern Lights add an amazing nighttime spectacle to the sky above this small fishing village in Norway. The aurora is unpredictable, usually only giving 30 minutes notice of an event through various online apps linked to weather satellites that detect and report solar winds, which can have a colorful reaction in the atmosphere. My first four nights were shrouded in heavy clouds. But my last four nights featured clear, dark star-filled skies with the dancing Northern Lights above the snow-capped mountains and fjords of Norway.
northern lights gallery from norway
dancing lights of the aurora borealis
Normally when I am taking pictures of stars in a dark sky I am using very long exposures of up to 30 seconds. However, because the Northern Lights are constantly moving, they require a much shorter exposure of about 2 seconds. That allows the camera to preserve the detail of the curtains of colorful lights as the seem to dance overhead. I took a series of up to 300 still photographs over a 20 minute time period, and then created short timelapse videos to show the movement of the aurora above the landscape of Norway.
a timelapse of the northern lights
beautiful landscapes
The Lofoten Islands of Norway are filled with beautiful landscapes both day and night. In addition to enjoying the Northern Lights, I spent each day touring the Lofoten Islands with my friend Asbjorn as my guide. Here is a collection of some of my photographs from late February through early March, 2024.
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