Dane Gudauskas, Lofoten Archipelago, Kingdom of Norway

It ain’t a secret that Norway is an Arctic wonderland. Gals, mountains, bears, crazy blonds with blank stares and guns, the fourth-highest GDP in the world. What isn’t there to love? How about when you’re in late spring and that part of the world is a long way from orbiting back toward the sun and there’s, like, minutes of sunlight a day? Well, how bout we call it what it is, a treasure chest of crap. “This was the worst day of the trip, hands down,” says the photographer, Mr Burkard. “It was onshore and dark all day, alternately snowing and raining and windy. We only went out to surf to burn off a few calories since our diets were mostly Nutella, liquorice ropes, hot dogs and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. We felt like bears getting ready for winter. The sun was out for no more than eight minutes. It was the second time for the whole trip. It has to round the mountain fjord and has about a 20-degree window before dipping into the sea. A glorious eight minutes out of five days.”