On our first common winter trip to the Norwegian Lofoten Islands in January 2022 we had had a bit of bad luck with the weather – a lot of storms, rain, slush, snow and ice in motley succession. Time and again we were sitting in our admittedly very comfortable hut drinking coffee and baking yummy waffles instead of exploring the surroundings with our cameras…. That‘s why … and of course because we had enjoyed trip with Jens anyway – Thomas, Hardo and I decided to give the photo workshop in the northern part of Norway with Jens Klettenheimer another try.
However, this year, our flight to Leknes was cancelled on short notice due to heavy gusts, the first forebodings of a really bad hurricane that was predicted for the following Wednesday. Eventually we got the go for Svolvær on Tuesday morning. Jens came to pick us up and we started our photo tour right away in a drizzling rain knowing that the big storm was yet to come. Hurricane „Ingunn“ was expected to hit Norway in the late afternoon with wind speeds of more than 200 km/h.
So we were sitting inside enjoying a cup of coffee and another round of waffles listening to the howling storm and hoping for the best. Actually Jens kept us busy explaining more photo apps, discussing pictures and processing techniques, helped with IT issues, gave me some good advice on my website – and with the waffles, the howling wind outside and the early darkness we felt quite comfortable and protected in our little house. We could hardly see anything outside because the storm had covered all the window panes with a layer of snow.
This left us with only 2 (!!!) more days of photography workshop which we exploited as much as possible. The weather changed to definitely winter conditions with daily loads of fresh snow. We were gone from dawn to dusk taking pictures of the numerous picturesque locations. Jens was constantly checking the aurora forecasts but we didn’t have any luck. The northern lights did not dance for us.
Our Norwegian weather experience had taught us to allow for some extra time this time… My husband had arrived Friday night and the two of us had even two more weeks on our own to travel and photograph these iconic islands.
We had tons of snow and reallly enjoyed this winter wonderland which we haven’t had at home for so many years…so I returned home after three weeks of real winter with loads of beautiful pictures in my heart and on my SD cards…
(Text taken in excerpts from Annette’s blog with friendly permission.)