Lots and lots and lots the last days

There is lots of everything these days. Lots of Aurora and lots of visitors in Tromsø. There is also lots of things happening here at Creative Vacations, more of that later. I just wanted to show you a few photos from the last few days.

Lissia proves once again to be an excellent photographer!

This photo was taken from our garden. 

Ersfjordbotn has become a place to take iconic photographs.

Aurora Borealis welcoming me back after covering my home team losing the finals

I spent the week end in Oslo covering the finals in football for Nordlys (regional newspaper). TIL, the Tromsø team was huge favorites. They play in another division than Hødd, the other team. Yet TIL lost. Credits goes to Hødd's keeper Ørjan Håskjold Nyland. He did an amazing job.
I'm not going to go into lengths about the match if you are interested go here:
Unlikely team wins

Silvia picked me and the gear up at the airport. I had not only my own personal gear, but also the set up for doing live web TV, which I had the technical responsibility for. Just as I got out of the car there was a huge Aurora dancing over the sky. It was moving fast, and we could see both green and red. I was too tired to take any photos, and by the time Silvia decided to shoot it was mostly gone.

Here are some of her shots:

It was almost full moon, and I think these shots shows clearly that you can still see the northern lights in full moon.

As a tribute to Hødd's keeper Ørjan Håskjold Nyland I also want to post some photos of him in action.

The images are best seen large. Please click on them for a larger view.

But TIL did manage to score:

And then  Ørjan  (which is a Scandinavian version of the name George by the way) saved one too many penalty shots

And we were sad

To see the Aurora when I got back home made me feel better.

WOW!!!!

Aurora really made a spectacular show yesterday!!

I'm speechless.

James and Lorika enjoying Aurora in Ersfjordbotn

Hélène et Marc

There was even some red in the Aurora this night. 

Thank you Aurora!

Serene and Kelvin wait patiently and get rewarded.

The clouds were hanging thick over Tromso, and the wind was from the south west. We decided that the best thing would be to drive to north east. We drove to Skibotn in Storfjord and found a beach. When we arrived there was another bus there. Thus we were careful with our headlamps and went to the other side of the beach, a few hundred meters away from the other group. This way we didn't ruin any of the photos they were taking, and we didn't ruin their night vision.

(Kelvin and Serene with their headlamps are off)

The northern lights were at her full beauty and Kelvin was shooting away, making tons of nice pictures when a third group decided to crash the party. To find the beach they lit up their lights in full power and directed them straight on us. To make sure they blinded us completely, and to ruin as many of Kelvin's photos as possible, they came down one by one, instead of together. Since the beach is very long we found it best to move further away because they seemed to enjoy their headlights more than the northern lights. 

After a while the northern lights got dimmer and eventually vanished. The two other groups left, but we decided to wait a while. After some soup, coffee, tea and chocolate cookies, Aurora rewarded our patience and danced for us again. 

Kelvin was kind enough to lend me his 85mm f/1.2. I think this image shows how a long lens is very good for  northern light photography. I still think wide angle lenses are the most useful, but don't leave your long lens at home!

Honeymoon under the northern lights

Sophie and Richard started their honeymoon in Tromso. They were in luck as the lady Aurora danced her honeymoon over their heads on the wintry beach.

Richard is the photographer among them, but Sophie got the chance to learn a few new things and bring home a few photos of her own.

 We wish you all the best an hope that you will see lots more northern lights on the rest of your trip.

Here you have it: 8 reasons to come to Norway.

Everything is cool made a list of 8 reasons to visit Norway.

We like reason # 2 the most: The Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis! 

Reason # 3 sounds more like Sweden. Boys who look like girls: Yes that sounds more like Stockholm than Tromsø.  Anyways, we let you judge for yourself when you are here.

Her's the link:

http://everythingiscool.co.uk/2011/02/10/cool-8-reasons-to-visit-norway-cos-britains-pissing-you-off/

Première workshop cette saisoin! We had our first workshop on Saturday; what a start!

As soon as we got out of the door of the studio where we had a theory session, there was a huge Aurora going on. We just put up the cameras in the garden and got a few shots right there before we headed out to Kvaloya. The show lasted all night with a small break just so we could have some of that lovely fish soup Silvia had made for us. On Rekvikeidet we found what was left of Guide Gunnar's bonfire to warm our hands a little. Thank you Gunnar.

Thank you Aurora for a wonderful night.


Dès que nous sommes sortie de la porte il y avait un énorme Aurora entrain de passer au-dessus de nos têtes!!. Nous dédisons de mettre nos camera sur le jardin et faire quelques photos. Tout de suit après on est partie à la chasse d’autre aurore boréales dans l’ile Kvaloya. Le spectacle a duré toute la nuit avec une petite pause juste pour pouvoir savourer la bonne soupe de poisson que Silvia nous avait fait. Sur Rekvikeidet nous avons trouvé ce qui restait de feu de joie Guide Gunnar pour réchauffer nos mains un peu. Merci Gunnar.

Merci Aurora pour cette nuit merveilleuse.

autumn aurora dancing the night away

We were just about to go to sleep when Silvia looked out the window and saw an amazing Aurora dancing the night away. We got dressed and hurried outside to participate in the dance. There in our garden we saw what hopefully is a sign of what to come this season.

New time lapse video from Ole C. Salomonsen

Check out this new time lapse from Ole C. Salomonsen

I'm a big fan of his work. He is probably the best Aurora Borealis photographer in Tromso and the world. His images are amazing. I've watched this video again and again. I'm already looking forward to the winter. There will be lots and lots of northern lights in 2013. At Creative Vacations we're now doing research on new places to take photos.

Here's the link. 

http://vimeo.com/40555466