The Thrill of the Chase
Years ago, I had a dream that my dad brought me outside a little log cabin in the middle of the Canadian wilderness to have a look at the Northern Lights. He could see it faintly on the horizon and wanted to share that moment with me. In the morning he told me he couldn’t believe my dis-interest which was when I realized it was not a dream; I had been sleep walking and had no recollection of the night before. Frustrated, I told him if that ever happened again to slap me across the face and make sure I was AWAKE!
After that trip, seeing the Aurora Borealis went to the top of my bucket list.
02/09/2023 | From the journal.
‘Flying around the southern tip of Greenland, I find myself en route to Oslo, Norway, and from there, north into the Arctic.’
‘I had an aisle seat and to my left was the window facing North. Between the lousy airplane naps I happened to glance outside and notice a strange haze on the horizon. It was cloudy below, so the actual horizon was clearly visible against the black night sky. But above that, a haze seemed to be developing faster than clouds would. I reached over and nudged Alex awake and we both stared out the window trying to avoid eye contact with the man in that seat. I dug my camera out of my backpack and hustled up the aisle to an empty row with a window seat. I cranked the ISO and held ‘er steady and boom! There it was! A green glow twinkling above Greenland and we had a photo to prove it. We took turns watching it out the tiny window and snapping blurry photos as evidence.’
‘A good omen, before the trip has even begun.’
After another quick glimpse on our first night in Lofoten, we found ourselves smothered in strange weather for the better part of a week. Each night, we’d check our Aurora apps which boasted forecasts that were off the charts but every time, that was met with 100% cloud cover and rain. Night after night we’d watch the sky waiting for a break, many times driving to another island entirely, hoping those mountains would bring more favorable weather. No luck. Towards the end of the trip we came to the realization that those first sightings we caught might be the best we’d get and that we should begin to appreciate them.
With only two nights left in the Arctic, I was wrapping up dinner and heard Alex sound the alarm from the oceanside deck outside our Airbnb. I gathered my camera and tripod and ran out to join him as the Aurora erupted in the sky across from our house. Three individual bands of green waved overhead and overwhelmed us with excitement. Once the first surge retreated, we hopped in the car and drove East in search of new compositions to photograph. But naturally, we didn’t make it far before we had to slam on the brakes and pull over as the sky above exploded with light.
‘Neon stripes danced across the sky with vertical light pillars racing each other to the edge of the horizon and back.‘
The Aurora Borealis breaks all the rules of light and physics I knew to be true from my observations in nature. I noted in my journal that the fastest natural thing that typically passes by overhead is a cloud. And even the fastest clouds are pretty slow. So the speed at which the Aurora flutters across the sky absolutely floored us both.
I quickly set up a timelapse so I could remove myself from the camera and I stood in silence for what felt like an eternity with my hands on my head in shock. As the lights darted by overhead, I found myself thinking about my dad and how I wished for him to be there sharing this experience with me.
I knew he wasn’t far away.
Thanks for stopping by to check out this gallery and a few words from this adventure. These are some of my favorite images I’ve ever captured and I’m looking forward to testing them out on metal prints. Once I’ve done that, I’ll be listing a few for sale on my online print store so please keep an eye out for that if you’re interested. And if you enjoyed this post, feel free to share the link with some friends who might also enjoy it.
As always, stay adventurous!
- Nate
