Chasing The Northern Lights

Chasing The Lights

It’s another one of those bucket list things to experience as a photographer and be able to photograph one of the wonders of nature. So, not being one to pass up on the opportunity, I was very excited to head into the darkness in search of the aurora.

During a 12 night cruise along the coast of Norway, we stopped overnight in Alta, at the very Northern tip of the country and booked an excursion with Glod Explorer to hopefully get a glimpse of the natural phenomenon. The trip was very well organised and we had a great local guide who took us to some very remote spots.

For this trip I had also rented a Sigma 14mm f1.8 lens which is perfect for astro-photography and capturing the northern lights.

When we stopped at the first location it was pitch black, and I mean you could literally not see more than about a metre in front of you but then gazing up at the sky, I was in absolute awe – millions of stars like I have never seen before. Crystal clear and shining brightly, it was a sight that simply could not be reproduced in more populated places due to the amount of light pollution.

Then, we started to see the very feint green bands appear, which because more and more vibrant and could easily be seen with the naked eye. Pink and purple colours started to appear as the aurora made itself known.

My camera setup for the photos was using a shutter speed of around 3-5 seconds, with a wide open aperture at f1.8 and ISO was set around 1000.

We travelled to a couple of other locations with the help of our guide and managed to grab some amazing images before the clouds started to roll in and the aurora started to fade. Regardless, we had ticked off another “must do” and headed back to the warmth of our cruise ship to grab a welle arned hot chocolate and reflect on an amazing experience.