Once In A Trip Sunset, Twice (Faroe Pt. One)

From the moment you breach the cloud layer covering the Faroes and begin to see the islands underneath you you can’t help but feel excited. For many this is going to be a trip they get to experience rarely in their lives if ever – as it was for me.

Some of the images in this video are discussed in my latest YouTube video. Check it out here!

Getting To Faroe

The journey to the Faroes was a long one. The week leading up to my trip, I felt sick as a dog and was confident it would get better by the time I left. It did not – and writing this nearing the end of the trip I can say that it did not get better. Throughout the whole trip I have been dealing with phlegm in quantities that I’d rather never have to see again (I’m sure I will though).

Traveling through the closed system that is a multi airport flight itinerary was not easy. However, I managed to make it through. After roughly 24 hours awake Sophie and I made it out of the Faroe Islands airport parking lot and began driving towards our first destination, Gásadalur.

First Impressions

As you can see in the image above, the weather we got was divine. The whole flight was above thick clouds and after a rough landing in Faroe, we were ready for the worst, but that is not what we got. Whatever clouds there were parted quickly and by the time we had picked up our car and driven the twenty minutes to our accommodation the skies had cleared fully and we were being treated to a wonderful spring day. One of the most balmy we’d get in the Faroes.

Once we arrived in the town, we visited Múlafossur and played fetch with the dog we’d come to call Rock Dog. Because he’d only play fetch with us with rocks. He would come up to us carrying a medium sized rock put it down in front of Sophie and I and then lie in wait watching you hoping for you to pick it up. As you’d pick it up he would get excited and ready to run and boy when you threw it would he HUSTLE to catch and return that rock to you. Thus he was dubbed Rock Dog.

We’d play fetch with him many more times over the next few days, but after so little time sleeping as we journeyed out here, we needed rest.

We slept for a couple hours before waking up and getting treated to the first of our great sunsets at Múlafossur. This was where I’d first meet Danny – a Swiss photographer who Sophie and I would run into several other times on our trip – once the following night at sunset and again half a week later on a tour of the island of Mykines in a fog and wind storm (is this a thing?)

I played with a few compositions of the falls that evening but I think that this one best encapsulates the whole scene and had the most dramatic cloud cover of the night over the hillside.

Below you’ll find another image that I got on that evening. This one, a far simpler composition. Placed dead center it’s just the island of Mykines. One we did not plan to visit but would end up visiting in the third leg of our tripº.

Thus we’d be ending our first evening and day in Faroe – but little did we know that sunset that we thought was “once in a trip” was planning a surprise re-appearance the following evening.

ºThis is where we’d see the Puffin’s up-close and personal – I don’t recommend missing that article!

Second Day Sunshine

After catching up on plenty of sleep leading into our second day on the Islands, we did a lovely hike to the illusion lake that the Faroes are well known for. The day was basked in sunlight and dramatic clouds rolling above us – and as we reached the cliffs edge I noticed this composition of the path behind us. The even lighting across the whole scene and pastel tones remind me of the pastel scenes and artistry of a Studio Ghibli film.

As you exited the grassy paths you reached the cliffs and for the first time since I visited the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland I got to see monumental sea-cliffs up close and personal. The sensation was familiarly overwhelming. Their scale puts perspective to the limits of human comprehension and every step must be taken carefully, else you risk a nasty fall you’ll not walk away from.

From here we hiked onward and made our way towards the waterfall flowing into the ocean (the second such fall we’d seen on the trip) and it was beautiful. We stayed here for some time and watched the light flow across the scene but we had a timetable to meet. Our boat would be leaving Sørvágur for a 16:30 zodiac ride and we still had a hike to finish. We kicked it into full gear and made our way back to town. We made a quick pit-stop at the local Bonus (a grocery store on the Faroes) and then swung back home dropping off the food we’d be having that night.

By the time we reached the boat tour’s departing port we were the only two people there – one person showed up after us who we had seen on the hike and then the boat captain informed us we were going to be departing with just us three. This shocked us!

We were told they cancel the tour if it was under-booked but this wasn’t our experience and getting effectively a private boat tour and being able to sit in the front of the zodiac uncontested was an incredible experience. We rode it all over the bay beneath some waterfalls (including Múlafossur) and even went through Drangarnir – a famous sea-stack in the area..

After the ride was done we again went home and rested for a while before it was again time for sunset. This time I recall as we were leaving telling Sophie, “I don’t know if the sunset is going to materialize tonight”. There were thick clouds and it didn’t seem like anything dramatic was going to happen in the sky.

How wrong could I have been. We drove through the tunnel connecting Gásadalur to the rest of the island and as we breached the other side we were greeted with a bit of faint light on Mykines but nothing too dramatic. I’ll attach two images from that part of the evening below that were shot just 10 minutes apart. The light came faintly and then left us to darkness.

On the ride home from here I told Sophie that while I was glad we went out it was a shame that we didn’t see more light. I had no idea what was in store for us. As we began to edge our way out of the tunnel – I saw pink light high above us – and we were then treated to an absolute show-stopper of a sunset.

We saw the sun go from being behind those clouds to breaking out and showing off all the light it could produce in a profound display of beauty. It was truly an unforgettable experience and the conditions that night are as I mentioned earlier – conditions that you often get just once in a trip.

The light kept burning hard and fast – and sure as it came it went just as quickly – and the valley was thrust back into darkness. We slept poorly that night – our bodies were jet lagged and after such an exciting display it was hard to go to bed. Little did we know that the next day was going to be the most brutal of the entire trip.

When it rains it –

Bøur’s beauty is hard to deny. Pictured here the town made for a perfect subject in this image as Sophie and I began driving around the island on the rainiest and most unforgiving day we’d have over the whole trip. It was tough keeping my lenses dry and honestly I didn’t fully manage. After this first set of images Sophie and I continued on driving farther and farther into the rain away from the cozy warmth of our AirBNB.

After a few more stops we drove through a mountain pass in thick rain and fog and came upon this scene of a river flowing rapidly beneath a rusted out barn house. On subsequent visits the river was far tamer once the rain had stopped but on this day it was roaring and made for a great subject. After this stopped we turned back around and drove over to a restaurant serving traditional Faroese dishes. We both got the fish soup which was absolutely exquisite.

Eventually it was time for us to go home. On the way back up the fjord we pulled off again and I snagged this image of the sand and the gulls at the edge of the waterfall flowing off into the ocean.

Then when we neared our AirBNB I went back to Múlafossor and photographed it in the rain and the results were outstanding. I loved each shot that I got and had a ton of fun playing around with exposure and shutter speeds to get different textures in the falling water of the falls.

And finally my favorite image of the day. On our drive home from another restaurant where we got dinner at we drove past a herd of Highland Cows. Sophie and I parked in at a hiking trailhead nearby and I began walking back out towards the herd. By the time I got out there most of the herd had moved on – except for this lone cow.

I watched him for a while as he grazed and took a few different images but eventually he framed up perfectly in front of this puddle in the scene. Offering the perfect anchor and foreground interest for the image. I’m really proud of the outcome – and can’t wait to print this image for my walls.

And Thus Our First Island Was Done

Vágar was absolutely jaw-dropping and out of all the places we’d visit on the trip, it was the one that I personally resonated with the most. I liked the location we stayed at and the people we met there were nice. Additionally, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stay at a location like the one we stayed at again.

Being able to stay just a few feet from such a word-class landscape photograph subject was a privilege that’s hard (if not impossible) to beat.