September 2018 was my fifth visit to The Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway and the islands have very quickly become one of my favourite places to visit. From the moment the islands become visible on the flight into Leknes the breathtaking beauty becomes apparent and each time I see my first glimpse of the Lofoten Islands I am mesmerised by the beauty that is below.
The original reason I was drawn to Lofoten was the photographic opportunities and after all these trips I’ve photographed most of the iconic sights many times, so now the photo opportunities are just one of the reasons why I return. Don’t get me wrong, my camera will always be full of new photos by the time I leave as each day can present a new way of seeing the beauty and scenery which continues to take my breath away.
But even if I wasn’t to get my camera out of my bag, the isolation of these islands and the solitude a trip brings is what draws me back again and again. In the the years since I first started visiting you can really see and feel the increase of people just like myself who want to visit this beautiful part of the world. On my first visit i would see no one else with a camera, now I often bump into groups of fellow photographers trying to also find that perfect shot.
But even with this increase in visitors which I know will only become more and more as the world becomes aware that a place like Lofoten exists, you can still find isolation and solitude - you just need to know where and when to find it - and that is the adventure that Lofoten presents to me…
So like many other tourists I will continue to visit these incredible islands, but always with the goal of finding new ways to find my isolation.
Lofoten isolation - imagine living in this hut half way up the drive to complete peace?
The tranquility and silence as a sunset in Hamnøy is normally stunning, as it was the evening I took this photo
Below is a video of my trip to Lofoten capturing some of the beauty of the islands from my drone and camera
And ironically, after searching for isolation, peace and quite I found it.
At the exact moment I crashed my drone, almost a year to the day after I sank my first one…