This May, Fashion Photographer and Gather.ly crew member Lee Kirby found himself with a frankly unmissable opportunity on his hands - Gather.ly had a film to shoot in Senja, and our film-maker needed an assistant. Never one to say no to an adventure, off Lee went. But of course there was no way he was leaving without his camera...

A world away from models in a London studio, Lee's fresh foray into landscape photography gives us a breath-taking glimpse of the land of the North. Here he tells us his story.

I was lucky enough to recently assist on a documentary film project with Chris Turner & Gather.ly. We were sent to Norway to create a short film, documenting sea Kayaker Jeff Allen exploring some of the most remote coastlines of this spectacular country.

A Journey North is a side project I found time to shoot in between filming. It has ended up being one of my favourite series of photographs I've created to date. I shoot a lot of fashion, mainly in the studio, so this project couldn't have been more out of my comfort zone. This was a chance for me to expand my portfolio and challenge myself by focusing on landscape photography. I haven't travelled much in my life and wouldn't have ever thought I'd end up exploring the outlying islands of Norway in the arctic circle.

This is the dude we came all this way to meet - Jeff Allen, 52 years young from Falmouth. After a 13 hour door-to-door trip from London, we were greeted by Jeff in the early hours of the morning in a rickety white Hyundai Starex that his mate Bjorn had lent him. Not having done much research into where we were heading, I honestly didn't know what to expect. We set off into the mountains from Tromso and.... well I didn't expect this.

I had never seen such a variation of weather conditions in one place. Snow capped mountains dipping their feet into crystal clear waters around 800ft above sea level. This was my first time photographing a landscape and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place to start.

Waiting for the ferry at Brensholmen I had the time to really take in my surroundings. Jeff explained to me that it was winter two days ago here and yesterday they had four seasons in one day! We couldn't have been luckier with the weather, this part of Norway gets pretty gnarly in the colder months. It's so hard knowing what to pack for a trip to the Arctic, one day it's minus 10 degrees, the next you are chilling in a tee shirt and shorts.

We took the ferry across to Botnhamn, winding our way through mountains down a huge fjord. It felt like I was on the moon, the clouds blanketing the mountain tops for our whole journey. It was impossible to put my camera down, everywhere I looked was a postcard photo opportunity. Having not shot landscapes before this trip I had never thought about the effort involved in taking this type of shot. There's an experience behind every photo and a memory that will never be forgotten. In other words, landscape photographers have the best jobs.

Whilst travelling through the mountains, we were stopping every few minutes to shoot the views but for some reason on this occasion we didn't stop. I got the below shot through the window of our van whilst heading to a part of a mountain range called The Devil's Teeth, in Tungeneset.

The Devil's Teeth were idyllic - a really peaceful place to sit and ponder. It was hitting home by this point that I was witnessing one of the most incredible compositions our planet has to offer, and I had only been here for a few hours. We still had quite a distance to cover to get to our destination - Base Camp Senja.

We hit Base Camp Senja and headed straight out into the water. Jeff told us about how he had made his kayak, or 'Ikyak' to be precise. This beautiful piece of engineering was entirely created by Jeff's hand. Steaming lengths of timber to create the shape and pieced together with only twine - no screws or joints - then dressed with canvas, hand stitched onto the frame and painted. This was the first time he had been out properly with it, so was slightly anxious but overjoyed to finally take it to sea and test it. When photographing the kayak against the rich blue tones of the water, the colour he'd chosen for it couldn't have been more perfect.

Jeff had arranged a private boat for us to go out and shoot from for the day. Our Base Camp Senja hosts, Trude Mørkved & Dag Erlend Strømholt, took us out for nearly five hours which was fantastic. We covered and explored so many islands and beaches throughout the day.

Jeff had told us that he'd been searching for a whale skull he'd heard about a few weeks back, but had no luck finding it, so we took this as an opportunity to go on a mission and discover this illusive artefact. Washed up on the shore of a white sandy beach we succeeded in our mission. It made quite a nice throne too...

We took a break from the water and went for a hike up to the highest point of the island. I'm so unfit! This image really sums up what I have learnt from Jeff in the short time I've known him.

After a power nap back at our accommodation we headed back out to sea to catch the midnight sun. This was a brand new experience for me and it was a strange one. The image below was taken at about 1.00am, your body just doesn't turn off because of the light. I was so tired at this point from the few days I'd had travelling and shooting, but it didn't seem to want to crash out.

I can genuinely say that this is my favourite photo I've ever taken.

Such an amazing trip, big thanks to Gather.ly for sending me out there to shoot, also thanks to Jeff Allen for giving me a great story to photograph and being such an inspiration for me to travel more in the future. Shout out to Base Camp Senja for their hospitality and great food too!