A bucket list shot

Each story in the series Beyond the Image is about more than a single photograph — it’s about the moments, the waiting, and the quiet persistence behind them. Reine in Lofoten is a place I have returned to many times, each visit chasing a vision that has just slipped just out of reach. The light never quite cooperating; it was too harsh, too dull, or swallowed entirely by fog.

Henning Hovland

Writer

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Lofoten is a place where you simply need to accept what you are served and adapt.

Under a pitch black sky I started my daily hikes up into the mountains. With heavy rain drops falling I waded through mud and climbed up the steep sides of the mountains. Thinking back I was surprisingly positive about getting better conditions throughout the day. To me Lofoten is all about capturing the combination of raw nature, extreme weather and breathtaking light. The latter requiring many things to fall in place.

Promising weather forecasts pushed me forward to reach my destinations. A few minutes with great light would be enough, but I had to be at the right place at the right time. That thought kept grinding in my mind.

The same spot hour after hour

I have never in my life seen as many rainbows on one day as I did in the mountains at Austerdalsvatnet. Local chunks of clouds dumped heavy raindrops as pearls on a string. Each chunk given its own rainbow.

Fall colors meeting the blue shades of the waterfall and the mountain.

As soon as the sun pierced through the clouds I was ready to get to work.

I had to work quickly. I saw the heavy clouds building up around the surrounding peaks, bringing the next wave of weather.

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