Photo: Northern Lights over Storsandnes beach, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 16, 2014.  22.10

Wow – it’s 2015!  And even more wow, this photo marks the 2 year anniversary since I started this Friday Photo series, mostly as a way to keep adding something fresh to the website when I otherwise had nothing else to add.  Hopefully I have enough words for anther two years…

Here’s another aurora image from the same night as Friday Photo #100.  I like Storsandnes as an area for auroras as the horizon is fairly open, giving you a decent overview of what the northern lights might be doing, allowing me to make the decision to stay or head someplace else with a better composition.

On this night, I had been contentedly sitting around the campfire we had made, so I decided to stay and just enjoy the night.  I set my little Fuji XT-1 up on some rocks to take a time-lapse sequence, then set about grabbing a few images myself.

When the auroras began, there was still enough glow on the horizon to add a bit of light to the overall scene.  One of the difficulties of shooting in autumn, and when the moon is not out, is the darkness of the land.  Without winter’s snow covering the mountains, the nighttime autumn landscape easily becomes nothing more than black silhouettes agains the sky, something which I’m not all that fond of, to tell the truth.

Yet, with day’s light still fading, the added color and brightness helps separate the horizon, adding a bit of depth to the scene which is otherwise lost as the sky grows darker…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 1000
f 3.5
25 seconds
WB Daylight

Photo: Beach side campfire and Northern Lights, Storsandnes, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 16, 2014.  22:48

After two nights in the mountains I was sort of looking forward to a shower.  But unfortunately for us, the forecast was for another night of clear skies, so instead of the warming fire and soft bed of the Stamsund hostel, it was to be a night sleeping in the car.

A couple weeks earlier I had gotten in brief contact with Theo and Bee, a British couple traveling around Europe in their VW van – checkout their website and blog at VDubVanLife.  Anyhow, I sent them a text to see if they were up for an afternoon BBQ and campfire. They were.

Seeing as how we were both were sleeping in our vehicles, I figured Storsandnes would be a decent location – a good place for a BBQ, and if any northern lights decided to show up, a pretty good spot as well.

I love the month of September for its somewhat rare combination of (relatively) mild nights combined with long hours of darkness.  The only equivalent darkness you will find is in March, when you generally don’t want to spend all that much time outdoors.

As evening progressed, I decided we couldn’t carry on without a campfire, so Theo and I scoured the coast to collect driftwood for our campfire.  Luckily, this is an area seldom camped in, so there was plenty of wood to be found, enough for two nights of campfires as it turned out.

We sat around enjoying the fire for a while, but soon enough, I noticed that faint green glow in the sky; the horizon still carrying the colors of the day’s end.  At that point, the photographer kicks in and any enjoyment of the campfire disappears.  Well, that was until Theo and I thought the girls sitting around the fire with northern lights above would make for a nice photo.  And then proceeded to tell them to ‘sit still’ for the next 20 or so minutes…

Camera Info:
Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
14mm
ISO 2500
f 3.2
15 seconds
WB Daylight