FAROE ISLANDS LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

WHY PHOTOGRAPH THE FAROE ISLANDS IN WINTER?

Beautiful low winter light

One of the biggest reasons I love photographing the Faroes at this time of year is the light.

The sun stays low throughout the day.

That means long shadows, beautiful side-light and much more texture across the mountains.

Rather than waiting for the sun to drop towards the horizon at the end of the day, we can potentially work with low-angle light for much of the limited daylight we have.

Winter gives us fewer hours.

But those hours can be wonderful.

Short days aren't a disadvantage

By late November and early December, daylight is limited.

And for landscape photography, I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing.

We're not trying to photograph from 5am until midnight.

Instead, we can concentrate on the strongest part of the day, work carefully with a location and spend more time thinking about what we're making.

Then, once the daylight disappears, we head back to the house, warm up, eat together, back up photographs and look through what we've captured.

Unless the night sky decides to put on a show.

Then we're probably going back outside.

Wild Atlantic weather

Winter weather in the Faroes can be dramatic.

Wind.

Rain.

Mist.

Low cloud.

Atlantic storms.

And occasionally snow.

For some people, that sounds like terrible photography weather.

For me, it's often when the landscape becomes most interesting.

Dark skies, shafts of light, moving cloud and waves crashing against the coastline can completely transform familiar locations.

The weather isn't something we're trying to avoid.

It's part of what we've come to photograph.

Waterfalls everywhere

Winter rainfall brings the landscape alive with water.

The famous waterfalls become powerful, but you'll also see countless smaller falls appearing down mountainsides after rain.

Some have names.

Many don't.

They give us endless opportunities to work with shutter speed, movement, foregrounds and weather.

And on particularly windy days, you may even see waterfalls attempting to go back uphill.

Welcome to winter in the Faroe Islands.

Snow — if we're lucky

Snow can happen during this workshop, particularly on higher ground.

But I won't promise it.

The Faroe Islands have a relatively mild maritime winter, and snow at sea level often doesn't stay around for long.

When it does arrive, though, it can completely transform the landscape.

Green mountains become white overnight.

Rock and cliff edges become more defined.

And familiar locations suddenly look completely different.

If snow appears, we'll make the most of it.

Long blue hours

Winter isn't only about dramatic daylight.

The transition between day and night can be one of the most beautiful times to photograph.

The longer winter twilight gives us opportunities to work with blue-hour landscapes, villages beginning to light up and long exposures along the coast.

These quieter periods can produce very different photographs from the big dramatic daytime scenes.

And perhaps… the Northern Lights

Late November and early December give us long, dark nights.

That means there is a possibility of seeing and photographing the Northern Lights.

But this is important:

This is not sold as a Northern Lights workshop.

Aurora activity, clear skies and timing all need to cooperate.

Nothing can be guaranteed.

But I'll be watching the forecasts.

And if the conditions line up while we're together, we'll go.