Summer trip to northern Norway 2023

I’d decided to take a short photography trip to the island Senja in the northern part of Norway, specifically in Troms and Finnmark, to try to find something to photograph there since I’ve been in the area around Senja on other photography trips, but I’ve never actually gone to Senja itself before.

Unfortunately, most of what I found I either didn’t have enough patience to wait for ideal light, or I was unlucky with the conditions.

The best image I took on this entire trip turned out to be from Bleik on Andøya, a place I’ve been to a few times before so I knew exactly when and where to go, combined with being exceptionally lucky with the conditions where it started lightly raining 15-20 minutes before sunset.

But first, a farm I found on the way up, in Innfjorden:

I also couldn’t help but try some good, old-fashioned detail shot while enveloped in a bit of fog:

I also couldn’t help but test out some cascading waterfall photography:

A few proper panoramas on the way up is also mandatory.

This is the view I got from the ferry between Bognes to Lodingen:

I got to Finnsnes (the last township before we get to Senja), and they had a pond called Finnsnesvatnet where there were a few terns flying around, picking up small fish from the pond and taking dips etc:.

Evidently not every bird is interested in being photographed, but at least we can’t say we haven’t been warned.

What good would I be as a photographer if I didn’t do a mirror reflection when the opportunity presented itself?

I think this place would be a much better candidate for the sunset photography than the next location:

This is the main location I’d actually aimed for when I started my trip, it’s actually a platform made by the norwegian government where you can stand and enjoy the view. You can find it here if you want to know exactly where this is:

https://www.google.com/maps/place//@69.4244401,17.5094027,14z

Unfortunately, I’m not satisfied with the conditions I got pre- or post-sunset, so I’ll probably have to return sometime in the future to try again.

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised there was still snow on the peak here.

Not really an awesome shot, but it was complicated by the fact there were lots of power wires which I had to work hard to get out of the panorama. The next image shows what I mean:

I decided to take a quick trip to Andøya after leaving Senja, and thankfully, Andøya had a few places where I think I got much better images:

This image alone made the 3000km I drove in a week worth it. I was actually just aiming for the mountains being painted red by the sunset, along with the sunset itself, but I didn’t anticipate the light rain that started 15-20 minutes before sunset actually hit.

I’m certainly not complaining.

And, of course, we can’t go northwards in Norway without meeting a few raindeer.