The end of the chase

Well that's nearly it for 2013 for the aurora chase for us. We certainly struck lucky at the start of the week.

The end of our holiday which coincided with the end of this week has come and gone with little more than a whimper and so we are no getting ready for our journey home tomorrow back to the UK, and by all accounts that is a snowy UK so we should be more than able to handle anything thrown at us when we touch down at Heathrow tomorrow early evening.

The weather, which we are aware of our previous trip and something I have mentioned before regarding the climate in Norway has taken a turn for the worse. We haven't been out for the last 3 nights as there has been a weather front hanging all over northern Norway which has produced rain, rain and more rain along with some sleet which is now turning into snow. When we arrived at Ersfjordbotn we were welcomed with snow covered mountains adorning the sides of the fjords. These same mountains have now taken on a very different look with the majority of the snow being washed off and probably now only covering between 30%-40% of them rather than the 90% coverage when we arrived. We have had so much rain that the small waterfall next to the cabin sprang  back into life and has been almost been in a state of spate for the last 3 days solid as the water literally pours off the mountainside.

We are leaving with flood warnings and also high alerts of avalanches advised for the locality due to the sheer amount of rainfall that has been nothing short of relentless.



It goes without saying seeing the auroras at the start of holiday, which was always our goal, was the highlight. The lowlights include the Polar Zoo, which for the distance travelled and cost was a waste of both time and money. We found it very disappointing, certainly when visiting in winter time as we did. The drive there was the only high point of the trip through the fjords and mountains in nearly cloudless blue skies which afford great views to Bardu where the Polar Zoo is.

The zoo has elk, wolves, wolverines, deer, arctic foxes, lynx and whilst these are very appealing animals to photograph there is only one very small viewing platform over one of the wolf camps which was inaccessible due to snow when we went. All the other time you have to shoot through wire fencing so you are picking a single focus point so you can obscure the wire out of your images.

One of the highlights apart from the auroras was undoubtedly Grotfjord and standing on the beach surrounded by snow covered mountains and seeing the afternoon move into dusk just before sunset that afforded us a great opportunity to capture some great long exposure images like the one below.

The last opportunity we had to capture the auroras entailed a 60 mile drive to Nordkjosbotn in search of clear skies on Thursday. Although, slightly obscured at times by cloud we still had the chance to capture the aurora in temperatures that dropped down to -10.

So that ends our trip for the this year, it is hard not to fall in love with Ersfjordbotn Kystferie due to it's location and the beauty of the aurora borealis on a cloudless evening in winter time over the fjord. Having visited twice now in literally just over 12 months we need to consider all our options for next year. Time for somewhere new or time for a new project maybe, I don't think I or my suffering family know that answer just yet. I seriously doubt though we will find anywhere that feels as much as home as this place does though. A lot will depend on the solar maximum and if it has peaked already? Then I think pastures new will be calling............ In my heart though I hope it hasn't.

I have some projects I would like to devote more time to at home that I have been planning for a while. Anyone though he has taken interest in my blog and fancies a trip next year to this place please let me know................... I am always happy to give you a quote for my personal guiding services ;-)

Aurora borealis the chase is on...!!

So I am sitting here in Ersfjordbotn with family and friends waiting for the cloudy weather to pass us by at the moment.

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather this year and so have been treated to some amazing displays from the aurora borealis so far. We have been left in awe and wonderment at their beauty.

If our secret hideaway is now more out in the open than it was before, then it is a shame. Although, Henry the owner of the cabins here won't be too upset. We even had to book a year in advance for the dates we wanted, which just shows how popular it is here already.

We have been blessed with the auroras and far more importantly clear skies at points during the past few days. This has only served to capture the images I so hoped for.

In my previous blog post I mentioned Lens Locker who I had hired a Canon 16-35mm F2.8L lens from specifically for this trip and I have to be honest and say it is possibly the best short term investment I have made with regards camera gear. Most of the images posted in this blog post are taken with that lens and it certainly has been the lens of choice without a shadow of a doubt. I also have a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM and a Canon 24-70mm F2.8L with me. The majority of the time these have stayed in my bag though as the 16-35mm has just been what I needed and certainly the lens of choice. 

As you shoot on manual focus the speed of autofocus isn't an issue. The ability to shot wider or closer in depending on the aurora itself, plus the quality of the images captured is what you need in my opinion. The aurora is forever changing in size and position and so a fixed focal length lens will always be a challenge so I feel you need some flexibility offered by a zoom lens.

I have been shooting anywhere between 400-3200 ISO and this is really dependent on the strength of the aurora. The stronger the aurora then you can drop the ISO and adjust your exposure time accordingly. The exposure time I use is usually around 4 to 10 seconds long whilst trying to factor in the strength of the aurora itself and also ISO settings I am using. This is very much a trial and error learning curve that you very quickly pick up as you go so I can't give any exact advice on this. If you are lucky enough to see the aurora for long enough you have the chance to perfect these settings yourself though and you soon pick these up.

Unfortunately whilst we have been here I managed to fall down the stairs in our cabin (I still wonder why they insist on calling them cabins when they are really like a house). I ended up tearing a hamstring muscle that I felt rip across my leg as it went. It wasn't very nice and has limited my ability to walk long distances up scramble up the sides of the fjords. At the moment that hasn't been a major inconvenience to me though.

We have managed to have a quick walk around Tromsø and visited a really lovely glass blowing shop called Blåst which is the most northernly glass blowing shop in the world. Tromsø is full of the 'World's most northernly' shops and businesses I believe. I do though want to thank Silja the owner of the shop for allowing us to photograph her and her staff/partners at work there yesterday afternoon and they have some wonderful pieces there that you can purchase.

Norway and Tromsø in general isn't just appealing due to the auroras. Yes, they are one of the main reasons for the tourists, certainly in winter time. From a photographers perspective it is a a paradise though. If you have an off day from hunting the auroras then wake up the next morning and if the weather is good you may be rewarded by a sunrise as I was over the Lyngen Alps 

Alternatively if the skies are clear then look out for a brilliant sunset at a suitable location and you may be rewarded as well. The image below was captured on a Canon 24-70mm F2.8L lens using a Heliopan ND 3.0 filter (This filter is what some people refer to as a big stopper)

So it isn't just auroras that Norway or Tromsø has to offer, there is plenty of things to do if or see if you look around. All I would say is simply........... if you hire a car make sure it is a 4x4, even if it is a Skoda Yeti like ours.

There is a lot of solar acitivity at the moment and the outside possibility of an X class flare in the next 24 hours. Whilst there weather isn't looking great for Saturday if one is released from the sun then I will certainly be travelling as far as is needed to reach clear skies as that will be worth the effort and also a lack of sleep.

Tomorrow is also forecast to be fairly good weather and possibly clear skies as well, as I said at the start of my blog we have been blessed with good weather for the majority of this week here and I am so pleased that it has been on our side. As anyone who has been here or lives in Norway knows, when it gets bad it gets very bad.

Hopefully I will get another post of before the end of the week and include some more images of the auroras, if the weather holds.

Welcome to Ersfjordbotn Norway our first night!!

 Well having not blogged for a while due to work commitments taking priority I have finally got around to posting again.

We arrived in Ersfjordbotn yesterday in the mid afternoon. After completing the vital tasks like going to supermarket to buy supplies and so spending a huge amount of money on very little food we settled down for our first evening here. Little did we realise that we would also get a light show as well from the auroras

The first image is our cabin/apartment here in Ersfjordbotn Kystferie bathed in the green of the auroras. They were present between 8.00pm and 9.00pm and then returned between 11.00pm ans 12.00am


It was wonderful to see and experience the auroras on our first night and totally unexpected. Last year we had to wait 4 or 5 nights to experience them, so to get a sighting before even having a nights sleep here was wonderful, although slightly tiring.

The weather for the next week is the usual mix bag of snow and cloud. Although with a CME being launched from the sun yesterday and forecasted clear skies for tomorrow evening the prospects for sustained auroral activity over a number of hours is a huge possibility that will keep us all entertained and very busy. 

I would just like to thank Jo at Lens Locker who helped me out when I wanted to hire a Canon 16-35mm F2.8L for our trip and I hope that she smiles when she reads this as all the images posted on my blog today were taken using that lens so thanks Jo for you assistance.

Today's forecast isn't great and so in anticipation of a very long night tomorrow it will be a quiet one here this evening. I am though very excited about tomorrow.

Hopefully I will get to see someone I know on the look out point over Ersfjordbotn, who know's?

T- minus 30 days and a few thank you's

It is always a nice surprise when you receive an unexpected email from someone that takes you totally off guard and it is more than welcome and it also brings memories flooding back.

I received the photo on the left from Peter here in the UK who had been in contact with Bjørn Jørgensen who I mentioned in an earlier blog post. The photo was taken last February and the two people in the image are my partner Sue and I. I instantly recognised us and knew who had captured the image and it just brought back some great memories of our holiday in Norway and the auroras.

 I met Bjørn last February over looking Ersfjordbotn and spent a really enjoyable evening capturing the auroras and chatting in general with him. He is a very engaging photographer and extremely friendly. Hopefully when we return to Ersfjordbotn in February we will get the chance to meet up him again.

Bjørn has an extensive library of amazing aurora images. He is lucky enough to live close to Ersfjordbotn and his portfolio really does stand out due to their quality and I can highly recommend you spend sometime having a look at his website www.arcticphoto.no . I have also included an image he emailed to me below. When you see corona's and the auroras like this you know why people go to Norway and often like us go back after 1 taste.

I would just like to thank Bjørn again for allowing me to use his images.

We are now less than a month away from going back to Ersfjordbotn and I am so looking forward to returning. I believe the weather hasn't been the best this aurora season so far, but as we have hired a 4x4 car this time hopefully we will get the chance to explore more and find the clear skies that are a must to see the lights dancing for you.

Since my last blog a couple of solar storms and also sun spots have been active and so maybe we haven't passed solar maximum just yet and maybe 2013 will be the year. The 2 sun spots AR1652 and AR1654 are very large and so here's hoping they still contain enough energy to be active when we are there and so I will be keeping a very close eye on these in the days to come. I read on the Space Weather website someone mentioning the sun looks like a very spotty teenager at the moment due to all the sun spots and so if it continues like this then the outlook for our trip is very good. After a quiet few months maybe the solar activity is picking up.

I looked up the date when we were watching the auroras with Bjørn and it was early March last year, when I then went back to archives on the Space Weather website I was surprised/shocked to see the planetary K-index (KP index) was rated as just KP1 (quiet) and yet there were times we just stood there in awe at the wonderful sight of the displays in the sky. 

That night made up our minds to return so maybe it just goes to illustrate that you read as much information on as relevant websites as you like, but just because you think it won't be a good evening from what you have determined from all the sources of information and data, it can though count for very little. The only true way to determine this is to find that clear sky and to get out and look for yourself.

This weekend I will be having a little play around with time lapse photography in preparation of hopefully being able to put together a video clip of the auroras when we are there. This is something very new to me and I haven't tried it before, but hopefully with more than a little trial and error I will have something I am happy with first and foremost myself that I will then share with the readers of my blog.

On that subject I would just like to thank everyone for taking the time out to read my blog and I hope you have find some of my posts useful, appealing and it inspires you to visit a country where you can see the auroras. If you have a travel related bucket list and seeing the auroras borealis is on it, then just go. But, go for as long as you can afford it. If you expect to turn up and mother nature to just switch on the Northern Lights as you are only there for a couple of days, you could go home bitterly disappointed.

Solar maximum, been and gone or not?

Well hopefully the readers of my blog have had a great Christmas and you received lots of gifts and gadgets this year, many of those presents hopefully associated with photography.

Here is looking forwards to the New Year and 2013. From my own selfish perspective it just means we are closer to returning back to Tromso and hopefully experiencing the incredible auroras again.

One thing that people maybe aware of is that there are solar cycles which impact on the aurora borealis. These are regular occurrences of increased solar activity, usually in 11 years cycles, with the peak being referred to as the solar maximum. We are presently in solar cycle 24.

As 2012 are 2013 are predicted to be the peaks in the latest 11 year cycle there is a lot of talk of whether we actually reached the peak in 2012 or not. This is graphically displayed and explained clearly on the Space Weather website and can be found be clicking on this link Space Weather

This doesn't mean you wont experience the auroras if you are planning a holiday to Iceland, Finland, Sweden or Norway in the near future or further to Alaska or Canada. It may mean they are less intense due to the reduced solar activity, that is assuming of course we have reached the solar maximum which nobody will know until it has passed. There is though a greatly reduced number of sun spots in this period compared to the previous 11 year cycle. In 2001 this reached up to 175 sun spots in a single month and yet in this latest period this has never exceeded 95 in a single month so whether solar maximum has been and gone is open to debate.

One thing though that is worth bearing in mind is that no matter what solar activity is happening at the time you plan your visit this can and will be irrelevant if you have poor weather conditions or lots of cloud where you are as this will totally obscure the auroras and if it is low cloud you may not see a thing. This is something we experienced ourselves on one specific night in February.

If you are determined to experience the aurora borealis on your holiday I would highly recommend you use the services of a professional guide. These guides are very different to the the mass excursion trips offered by local hotels and usually limit the number of people to around 8 or 10 individuals.

These guides are often more expensive than the mass excursions available and there is a very good reasons for this and that is because they do go the extra mile to find clear skies and for their clients to experience the auroras. This may, in the case of the guides in and around Tromso, include taking you further afield into Finland or Sweden as their only goal is to get you to a location where you can see the auroras without time or distance being such an issue. It is a case or price/profit versus service and you take your pick of which one you want. The one thing I would suggest is that if you are going on holiday specifically to see the Northern Lights then when you add up the total cost of the holiday then paying the extra for the services of a professional guide seems a sensible thing to do. A word of warning though these guides are literally booked up months in advance so you wont be able to turn up to your chosen destination and decide only then to book with these people.

From what I have read, and this isn't from my own personal experience, 2 of the better guides in Tromso are Guide Gunnar who is also a wealth of knowledge and very helpful and active on the Tripadvisor website in the Tromso forum and Kjetil Skogli who was the guide that Joanna Lumley used when filming her trip to Norway to experience the aurora borealis. 

Happy New Year to everyone and here's hoping for some increased solar activity in the next few weeks.

The end of the world or maybe not, 21st December 2012?

 Thanks to the Mayan's I have been busily buying Christmas presents purely for myself this year. I saw little point in purchasing anything for anyone else considering today is supposedly the end of the world as we know it. I think I may live to regret that decision though........

It did though get me thinking about photographic gear, what I had and also what I need. Not just for myself but also for members of my family who will travel with us in February to Tromso. I have read many posts, articles and threads around the Aurora Borealis and compact cameras and what you can or more often what you can't do, due to their limitations. Whilst much of it makes sense to a point around what you can't do the alternative options aren't that clear or may seem confusing to some. Yes, I shoot on a Canon 7D DSLR so don't have these issues, but I wasn't prepared to spend a silly amount of money on kit for my 14 year old daughter who is also coming to Norway with us. She though needs a camera that suits her needs, that being small enough to fit in her pocket, face detection, HD video and an adequate zoom coupled with the needs and requirements to enable her to go on what could literally be a once in a lifetime trip and to capture images of the auroras. 

The biggest 'must have' requirement for a compact camera is that it must have the functionality to use manual settings. Sorry for those that know this, but in plain English to people who don't know what this means, simply put you control the camera and so the camera doesn't control the images it captures. There is a huge difference, albeit very subtle. Take a compact camera with only automatic settings on holiday to capture the Aurora Borealis and you will comeback possibly very disappointed. 

I was torn between 2 cameras the Panasonic TZ-30 and the Canon SX 260HS. It is always open to conjecture which one is best, but from what I have read the Canon SX 260HS performs a lot better in lowlight. I am not for or against one manufacturer or another, I am only interested in the output that is produced. So, if an image was captured using a Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic or Canon this fact is totally lost on me as I am interested in the picture itself.

So now you have a camera capable of capturing images of the auroras, but if you want them to be sharp you need a few additional items. These include the obvious, that being a tripod and also a way of controlling the exposure time. Hold on a second though the Canon SX 260HS doesn't have a means to do this as it can't be operated by some form of shutter release either via remote or a cable. Can you seriously operate the camera in freezing conditions on a tripod with your finger on the shutter button  for anywhere between 5 and 30 seconds without introducing shake and blurring the image? The simple answer is 'No', so you need to find a way around this.

After a lot of searching and one unsuccessful attempt to purchase the required piece of equipment from an online retailer I wont mention (their website doesn't take online orders so I contacted the owners and got no response!) I managed to find a local company literally just a few miles away that sold what I needed. It is basically a bracket that fixes to a compact camera on a tripod to allow you to use a shutter release cable with it, therefore giving you control over the exposure time. Incredibly useful, just what I needed, ordered and delivered the same week just before Christmas as well. This is link the item SRB Photographic so all I need now is a shutter release cable and thanks to the fact the Canon has manual controls we are all good to go. 

For people using DSLR's and going to shoot the auroras for the first time I would strongly recommend buying an angled viewfinder for low shots unless you like getting either very cold or covered in snow from laying down. I also carry one of these around with me photography mat which really is a standard bit of kit for a photographer who is into capturing landscapes or nature images.

One last thing, it was very rewarding to get a mention from a friend, Ryan Clark, who is studying environmental biology on his website with regards his wildlife highlights of 2012. I took Ryan over to Brownsea Island in November to go and see the red squirrels and we had a great day with these superb creatures literally running a few feet from us for most of the day. Below are a couple of images I captured and this is the link to Ryan's website with some great images on there Ryan Clark

Christmas trees, cats and the auroras

So the Christmas tree is up and our 1 year old cat has decided to take up residence in the tree yet again. He did exactly the same last year as well when he was literally a kitten only a few weeks old. I am praying he grows out of this as he gets older before his causes untold damage either to the tree, house but more importantly himself as he loves to chew the cables for the led lights.



I have been posting over the weekend on the Tromso forum on Tripadvisor and there are some really interesting threads there about the impact of moonlight and the auroras when taking photographs. I, like a number of other photographers who have posted, don't/didn't find bright moonlight an issue and believe that this only serves to enhance the image. I can appreciate if the auroras are weak then bright moonlight will only serve to over power and weaken there impact. Tromso though is so far inside the arctic circle that any auroras seem to be strong enough to overcome this. Either that or as a photographer you learn to adapt and to be mobile and that is most definitely a huge advantage. 

One thing we learnt this year is that whilst it maybe cloudy and horrible in one place you can literally drive around the side of fjord to another place just 10 minutes away and you will be treated to clear skies. Hence I would definitely recommend hiring a car if you go. One word of warning to UK drivers, you are literally driving on snow or perma ice or sometimes slush depending on the weather which is something we really don't experience here at home. That's fine, until you remember that the excess on your car hire for any damage to the vehicle including the underneath of it will cost you the princely sum of £1000! This year we will be taking out car hire excess insurance before we go which is around £40-£60 per annum and covers this cost. We will also be hiring a 4x4 as well as two wheel drive isn't really suitable even with snow tyres on the car.

One evening when we were photographing the auroras on the hill just overlooking Ersfjordbotn I had the enjoyable company of talking to a professional photographer called Bjørn Jørgensen who was also there. Bjørn is a very friendly and knowledgeable photographer and a real wealth of useful information as he lives very close by and makes a living from selling his images of the auroras. He has his own website that can be found here http://www.arcticphoto.no  I Googled him this weekend in preparation of returning to Ersfjordbotn and was pleased to see he has a new DVD out. I am not sure what it is like, but I would expect that it would certainly be worth the investment for anyone interested.

One slightly disappointing fact I also found out this weekend is that the Rica hotel in Tromso is offering evening trips to Ersfjordbotn this season to see the auroras so maybe it wont be as peaceful and quiet as February 2012. Just to give you an idea of costs though the charge for the trip taking into account  Ersfjordbotn is only 19km from Tromso is around £100 per person! I am just glad we are based there and so can make the most of the location and if the weather dictates we go elsewhere then so be it. Mother Nature makes up her own mind and we just have to follow her lead, but then that is half the fun of chasing the light as if we saw the auroras every night I am sure we would just tend to take them for granted rather than standing in awe at what we see.

So I have finished tonight with an image captured in February of the auroras and bright moonlight to me this isn't an issue, others may disagree, but as photographers know it is all subjective as to whether you think moonlight spoils the image or not. I know me feelings and that of others, each to their own though.