Robert Finn Novak

Award-winning travel photography, from the north

An award-winning travel and lifestyle photographer from Prague, Robert moved to Northern Norway 13 years ago and still calls Lofoten his home. He goes by Finnghal on social media, an old Gaelic word that means “the man from the north”.

“You have to try, fail, try again, and keep pushing yourself. Never give up. If you believe you are going to make it, you will.”

Robert has been in love with nature and the outdoors since he was little. But his career at first took him in a different direction. He studied technical drawing and engineering in school, spent a couple of years in the Special Army Ops, and covered nearly 150,000 kilometres hitch-hiking around Europe for roughly seven years. During this time, he learned differently languages and immersed himself in different cultures.

It wasn’t until the early 2000s that he discovered his passion for photography. Shortly after moving to Germany in 2004, Robert purchased his first DSLR camera—a Canon 350D. Photography began as just a hobby, but two years after moving to Norway, he began taking it seriously. He shared with Localfolk that it was the slow pace of life in the north, combined with the unique nature in Lofoten and Vesterålen, that convinced him to make photography his career in 2012.

“Depending on the project I am working on these days, my mornings are work-focused, with emails to send and edits to be done. But the afternoons are always reserved for the outdoors. And if the weather allows, my camera and drone come with me on all my afternoon adventures. The freedom to do that is what I love about my work up here.”

Robert says he has lived his entire life according to the idea that “life begins at the end of your comfort zone”. And given this perspective, and his adventurous lifestyle—involving skydiving, paragliding, rock climbing, mountain biking, and skiing—he has had some accidents along the way, including surviving an avalanche in Norway in 2012. From these experiences, he has learned to know his limits, respect the mountains, plan carefully, and keep stepping out of his comfort zone as much as possible. Otherwise, he says, you’re not really living at all.

Yet the adventure is having a positive impact on his work too. In the last decade, Robert has received many awards for his work and his photography has been published both in Norway and internationally. But the most significant milestone for him? The ‘Nordic Mesterskap’ in 2014.

“There were around 4,000 photographs from Scandinavia, and I placed first,” he says. “It felt unreal.”

Instagram / @finnghal finnghal.com

Robert received the Canon EOS 1Dx camera body as a prize, which drastically improved the technical side of his photography. And even today, Robert continues to shoot with Canon—specifically the EOS R series. His favourite lens is the RF 24-70mm f/2,8 which he uses 90 percent of the time due to its versatility. His other two lenses are the 70-200mm f/2,8 and 15-35mm f/2,8, and occasionally he will use the DJI Mavic Air 2 for aerial photography. And to edit his photos, Robert uses Adobe Lightroom for basic adjustments and Adobe Photoshop for more complex actions, plus any finishing touches.

Changing photography styles from time to time is an important part of Robert’s creative process. Many factors play a role in his current style—from his mood to the weather, current trends, and the country in which he’s shooting.

“Sometimes I prefer taking bright photos with strong contrast and saturated colours. Other times I stick to darker, moody, slightly desaturated edits.”

That means that he has no particular favourite image, he says. Instead, he has many favourites—and all for different reasons. “One thing they all have in common is that they connect me emotionally to the moment when I took them.”

Yet Robert does mention two projects that have been most exciting for him. The first was attending the ‘Lamborghini Avventura 2019’ and the second was shooting advertising material for a startup tourist boat company in Croatia.

Right now, as a full-time travel and lifestyle photographer, Robert’s biggest challenge is recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Not being able to travel and having to cancel big projects around the world took a toll on his business. But now he’s bouncing back. Robert has recently closed deals on a few upcoming projects with big-name brands—but the details must still remain secret for now.

“You have to try, fail, try again, and keep pushing yourself”, Robert says. “Never give up. If you believe you are going to make it, you will.”