Full moon or no moon. What is best?

One of the most common questions that I get is about the moon.

Normally it goes like this:

"It's best to avoid the moon to se the Aurora. Right?"

or

"I read on the Internet that it's best to avoid the full moon."

or

"We booked our plane tickets so that we avoided the moon. At least we got that right. Right?"

Not right! To ask what is best, no moon or full moon is like asking what is best, coffee or tea. 

Full moon and Aurora.

The Lighthouse

There is a lighthouse just south of the island of Tromsø.
I've been thinking of it and wanting to take a picture of it for a long time. I've driven by it, seen it, imagined it , for a year. The problem is that most of the time when I go out to take Aurora photos, I'm not alone, I'm with a group of people. The places I choose are chosen because there can be a bunch of us together and we can take photos without us actually being in each other's photos.

Update! two new versions. New Music! Epic night and timelapse video

Sometimes it is nice to be flexible. Actually most of the time it's nice to be flexible. The weather turned out pretty bad on Monday and on top of that the newspaper called me to shoot video of the prime minister of Norway who was meeting local heroes from World War 2. After e-mailing the clients we decided to go on Tuesday instead. I got my time with the prime minister.

Tuesday night turned out to be the best night so far this season, one of the best shows that I've ever seen.

I'm first and foremost a photographer. I'm definitely not a musician. After having the video out there for a few days I've gotten some feedback about the music. Some like it others don't, and I've had some suggestions about what to put instead. Please tell me what you think.

The season has started!!!!!!

Finally the Aurora season is here! I'm stoked! 

Just outside our door, in our garden we witnessed the first Aurora show this season. I believe this season is going to be a great one. 

Corona!

All the photos were taken between 22:45 and 23:00 the night of August 28, 2014. The nights are not completely dark yet, but dark enough to see the Aurora for a few hours.

  I was wearing T-shirt when I shot these photos. A bit strange, and a lot of fun.

Please share the good news!

Searching Mr Kreutz – The end of the season

The season is over. The last tour on the night  of the year turned into an epic adventure that made me feel like I was in some Joseph Conrad novel searching Mr Kreutz. If you haven't read "Heart of Darkness" yet, I suggest you use the time before the next Aurora season to do so. For me it's there on the list of "must read." Together with "Catcher in the Rye" and "Crime and Punishment."

March 24 the weather was horrible in Tromso so we drove inland. It was horrible in Skibotn and the Skibotn valley too. At the border to Finland it was so much wind and snow that I could only see two meters in front of the car. Things were looking bad and I think that everyone in the car was expecting to see nothing but snow and clouds. I was worrying that the road may close. So that we would be stuck in No Man's Land (aka Finland). A few kilometers passed Kilpisjärvi I stopped the car to have a look outside. To my surprise I saw a completely clear sky. Lots of stars, and some clouds by the horizon to the west, were we came from.

We found a quiet place with good photo possibilities, and waited... and waited. Then as if it came out of nothing it was snowing. Snowing!! We had to go further in. We repeated this several times. We drove east, the snow caught up with us. We went further... Maybe Mr Kreutz and Mdm Aurora was waiting around the corner? Waiting to tell us that IF is the middle word of LIFE.

Aurora came and told us we were worthy of her presence.

A few nights later, March 27, we were celebrating the end of the season with another guide. Looking out the window we saw someone waiving us good bye. 

Good bye! see you soon!

After being used to go to bed at 6 am and waking up at 2 pm for the whole Aurora season, it was quite a shock for me when Silvia woke me up at 10 am the next morning. "you have to get used to it" she said. I did. And I had to start post production on her photos that she was going to exhibit. Ain't no rest for the wicked!

Could this be Mr Kreutz' daughter?

The photos took me back to the summer and the work Silvia had done with a very talented and expressive young dancer in Ersfjordbotn. Ersfjordbotn is one of my favorite places for Aurora pictures, but it turns out that it's also a very good location for dance pictures. 

Silvia had an exhibition in a gallery called Small Projects. She did it together with another cosmopolitan South American artist: Maria Eugenia Poblete Beas.

The exhibition was a success! There were lots of people on the vernissage. 

Driving to Finland and back, only to find Aurora in our back yard.

Yesterday was one of those challenging nights. Clouds and more clouds, and some snow and rain.
Everywhere.
I talked to the local weather guy and he said my best chance was Skibotn or Kilpisjärvi. So we drove to Skibotn to find rain, then to Kilpisjärvi to find clouds. Finally we gave up and headed home.

Just when we made the last turn, where we could see our beloved Tromsø, we saw a light on the sky. And no it wasn't a cloud lit by the city lights. It was HER! Lady Aurora! We stopped at Berg just outside town. We had a show that lasted 45 minutes.

Troll marshmallows makes an excellent foreground. 

And so does trees.

The Aurora Portraits

As a service to those who join our tours I always try to make portraits of everyone who wants. Sometimes the conditions don't allow it, and sometimes the photographers on the tour are too busy taking their own photos. But very often it happens. I don't take the photos to show off on Facebook or here on the blog. I do it as a service to everyone who wants to come Aurora chasing with us.

Often there are couples who are on their honey moon. 

Or couples who are just really sweet...

Or a radio star from Ireland.

A series of family portraits:

And this gang from India who cam with me in spite of horrible weather forecast. The forecast turned out to be wrong and we enjoyed a very nice show. This is one of the biggest groups we do, and only on special request. Normally we only have small groups. 

 A very busy photographer.

And people taking a break and just watching the sky.

The photos are done in a very simple manner. I just use one flash, mounted on the camera. Yeah I know it's not very "professional", it's down and dirty press-photographer's style. But hey, that's what I am when I'm not doing Aurora tours. The portraits are memories for the ones who come on these trips. My main focus is to help the client get good photographs, and to experience the Aurora. That's what important. 

The way to do these photos is to use a flash to light up the face of the person, and then to let the time go so that the ambient light in the background comes in. Thus the exposure times are fairly long for portraits. Often 10 - 15 seconds. It is important to stand still all the time during the exposure. I could have gone for a shorter time, but then the ISO would have been too high, or the depth of field too short. To learn more about flash and ambient light check out Strobist, or come to one of my tours and practice for yourself.

Guess What Waited for Me When I Got Home in the Morning?

The last week has been great. I've been shooting time lapses, and have lots of pictures to process. I think I have grown a little spoiled. Aurora has been dancing non stop this week, the weather has been very nice; cold and clear. 

Last night we waited until 9 pm until we saw her. Aurora danced for us for about 30 minutes before she almost stopped. 

 There were still activities but, very little.

We waited and waited. At 12:30 am, my guests were cold enough and wanted to go back. So we did. We were a short hours drive from Tromsø. After dropping the guests at their hotels, I went back home. Guess what I saw when I got out of the van at home at 2:15 am? You got it: Aurora. She was dancing. Partying. telling me who's in charge.

Aurora seen from my drive way.

Corona 

Corona saying good night.