Would you like to spend a year experiencing Lofoten, going on adventures and trying things you might never have done before? We combine outdoor activities with photography and filmmaking, and learn to tell stories about what we experience. You don’t need any previous experience – just curiosity and a desire to try!
On the Outdoor Adventure, Film and Photography programme, you learn through doing. The year alternates between trips, creative projects, and periods where we work with photography, film, sound, and editing.
Throughout the year, we build towards several major highlights. In the autumn, we head to Vest-Lofoten and travel through Møysalen National Park. When winter arrives, there will be skiing, camping and winter outdoor adventures, before spring opens up opportunities for our own projects and Interrail trips through Europe.
At the beginning, we do a lot together and explore different activities, forms of expression, and ways of working. As the year progresses, you’ll have more opportunities to shape your own ideas, follow what you’re curious about, and find your own expression.
We give you the opportunities – you create the images!
Yngve is the outdoorsman and photographer who has never managed to overcome his rock-star genes. They manifest themselves in everything he does, even though he claims to have given up on the dream of becoming a star on the stage. Yet at our school, he shines just the same, illuminated by a creativity and inner passion for what he does – both outside and inside.
Feel free to write if you have any questions: yngve@lofotenfolkehogskole.no
On this page you will find everything you need when you arrive at the school, both for living in the hostel and for the lessons, as well as good tips for other cool things you might want to do. med.
At the beginning of the school year, we provide you with training in using the mirrorless camera (system camera) and basic training in Photoshop and digital printing. Later in the autumn, when the evenings become darker, you will receive courses in analog photography and black-and-white copying in the darkroom, and training in using the studio and printers.
Throughout the school year, we provide you with inspiration for your own work through lectures. You gain insight into photography history and theory, learn the secrets of image composition and the visual language. We are inspired by the greatest photographers and expressive forms in history, such as music, film, and design. This is to kickstart your own ideas, on the path towards your own expression.
Although we primarily work outdoors, and the existing light is our most important resource at all times, you will also be introduced to lighting in the studio. Our studio is professionally equipped with a variety of flashlights, various softboxes and spotters, fine backgrounds and a lot of props. Here you can let your imagination run wild in the dark!
Throughout the year, you will meet a number of guest teachers who are among the best in their fields. There will be workshops in photojournalism and visual storytelling, fashion photography, and advanced image editing. Several of the guest teachers are former students who have continued taking the course and have made careers as photographers after graduating from the program Lofoten Folkehøgskole.
Folkehøgskolen gave me the opportunity to explore the world of photography without limits. During my two years at the school, I got to try out different expressions and techniques and participate in workshops with professional photographers. The dramatic nature along with the strong people out in Lofoten were and are incredibly inspiring for me, and I return often.
The sudden changes in the weather make the environment exciting and the mountains offer steep skiing, world-class paddling, and of course fantastic photo opportunities. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to be a student at for two years Lofoten Folkehøgskole; it is a time I will always remember with joy.
When I sought out Lofoten, I wanted to get away, far away.
I had heard good things about nature, freedom, and life in a bubble.
It quickly struck me how something so far away, suddenly can become so close and dear.
We nature photography drove around on the Lofotveier accompanied by gas station honks and raucous radio. We sailed without wind and fished in the rain. I packed my classmates in yellow sheets on the surf beaches and carried flags up on Skrova’s highest mountain.
The wind almost threw my straw hat into the sea.
I visited Å and Siemienakowszczyzna in the same year.
We captured moments and seized the day. We dreamed without sleeping. We woke up to find ourselves falling into the future. I was skiing in front of kindergarten children on the frozen ground; they were skating past me. I learned to take time and remember it.
I met people. I met the woman.
I started higher education, lower in the country.
It took 68 degrees north to make my everyday life boil over.
When I tell people that I go hiking in Lofoten, everyone says exactly the same thing: «There are many beautiful motifs there!» After a year here, I just reply: «You can swear to it!» No matter if it’s abstract photography or nature photography just pure nature, Lofoten has a lot to offer! Fascinating rock formations, amazing patterns in the sand, massive mountains, beautiful colors and majestic animals are just the tip of the iceberg.
For me, the wildlife has been the most amazing thing. In fact, there are so many seals here that you will get tired of photographing them! There are deer and moose just a few minutes’ walk from the school, and if you’re lucky and patient, you might even see both seals and bald eagles. Moreover, the class takes trips to areas where the fauna is completely different. In Dividalen, for example, there are bears, and on Røst and Værøy we saw Lund bird.
One of the best things about the naturfotoline is the community that forms around photography. Having amazing nature experiences together with other photographers is something truly special, and no matter what you suggest to do, there is always someone there.
This year has been the best of my life and I will always look back on it with a smile on my face.
We wake up in new places, take the train to continue our journey, explore cities and landscapes, and let the journey unfold along the way. Some days are packed with experiences, while others allow us more time to stop and discover something unexpected and follow our curiosity.
It will be a journey with a lot of freedom, many impressions and a lot to experience together – and one of the highlights of the year.
