"The Faroe Islands, where exactly are they located?" That's the question I frequently answered before and after my trip in January 2025. If you look at a map and locate Iceland, Norway and Scotland and put a dot in the epicenter of the three locations, that's right about were the Faroe Islands are. "Why in January?" was the number two question from friends, family and colleagues. In January, there are about seven hours of the "Golden Hour", the period of time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the light is infused with red and gold tones due to refraction of sunlight which can make for some spectacular images.

For a photographer, this all sounds like a full-on unicorn, puppy and kitten party but the only challenge with this particular visit was the weather. It was rainy, blustery and full of cloud cover. Not ideal but that's how it works in nature photography. Obviously, this wasn't my first photography trip so I came prepared with the proper clothing but the lack of sunlight forces a good photographer to search for non-traditional compositions. I'll share more about that shortly. But first, let's dive into some history and background on this destination—one I plan to revisit in search of sunshine.

For those of you who prefer to look at my Faroe Islands gallery now and finish reading the blog later, just click here.

Føroyar - The Faroe Islands - is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark which means they run their own affairs but still receive financial assistance from the Danes. That would explain how all of the tunnels connecting the islands were built, I'm no engineer but I know tunnel building is a very expensive endeavor. These 18 islands, now home to some 55,000 residents, have been inhabited since the about 4th century originally by Irish Monks and later on by Norwegians, their Gaelic slaves and lots of sheep. The official language is Faroese which is a oddly cool mix of Icelandic, Old Norse with a smattering of Gaelic yet literally everyone I met spoke fluent American English without an accent. Thanks YouTube! Think of The Faroes as a smaller and less annoying version of Iceland minus the hordes of tourists and social media influencers taking selfies wearing miniskirts in freezing weather. Also, unlike Iceland, the Faroes have no active volcanoes which is a good thing for safety reasons. Fun Fact - The Faroese are completely football (soccer) crazy. They are members of both FIFA and UEFA, have four divisions with a total of about 50 teams and over 8,000 players. That means that 1 out of 10 Faroese people are registered players! And yes, I bought a Faroese National team kit to use in my matches here in Valencia.

My last bit of advice is about how to get there. Fly Atlantic Airways from Copenhagen because if your luggage becomes misplaced then they normally have flights every day and sometimes twice a day. Most importantly, the Atlantic Airways pilots are very accustomed to the landing approach which can be wildly windy and a new experience in air turbulence. Furthermore, rumor has it that Atlantic Airways has more sophisticated radar than other airlines and this leads to fewer cancelled flights. Pro Tip - fly KLM who has a code sharing arrangement with Atlantic Airways and you can check your bags all the way through to Vágar Airport instead of collecting them in CPH and rechecking them.

Because I am the eternal optimist, I always try to look on the bright side of things, even when there's no sun, 80 kph (50 mph) winds, and blowing rain. In other words - shoot what's available. While frequently focusing, wiping the lens, and shooting I did manage to get some cool images. Since all of these images were missing directly sunlight, I sometimes found myself looking to creating black and white images instead of color images. Black and white images amplify contrasts well and remove the "distraction" of color allowing the viewer to focus themselves on lines, shapes and perspective. Whatever the reason, I felt that some of the images simply looked better in black and white. See Below.

Now that you have seen a few of the best images from my trip, you can understand how some of my compositions changed into non-traditional compositions as I mentioned earlier. Waterfalls continue to flow in the rain so without the glimmer of sunlight I used slower shutter speeds to make smooth yet not milky patterns in the water. Landscape's may not have that magnificent colored sky and deep sunlit glow, but compositionally they are still cool and using a longer exposure can help make up for that by blurring the clouds a little bit. When you aren't looking at the sky, you look at things on the ground and that's when I saw the pile of rusted chains on the floor.

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In short, I wasn't surprised to find that the characteristics of the Faroese landscape were similar to both Norway and Iceland because that makes geological sense. Perhaps I will return in May of June next time and take my chances with the weather. According to my guide, it can rain pretty much any time and capturing images before and after a rainstorm can be rewarding if the sunlight illuminates the landscape. It's important to note, that time of year will also be good for Aurora Borealis viewings, which is always a bonus. During this trip, I had viewing notifications from all three of my aurora apps but the almost constant cloud cover erased any potential viewing opportunities. Instead of sulking, I enjoyed a pint of the local IPA from OY brewing. Always look on the bright side of life, especially when it's cloudy, windy and raining.