Auroras vs Shorts


Photographic Field Guides




The Photography Blog

Practical Philosophies
Careers and Ideas
Good Gear
Inspiring Journeys


December 2023

14mm F1.4 DG DN | Art 023
4/1th @ f/2.0
ISO 4000
Lumix DC-S5M2

BlueSky
LinkdIn
Facebook
Share Me!






Every year Ewen runs a handful of unique and marvellous tours and workshops. Find out more about what tours are coming up and how to book.

Photo Tours with Ewen






Journey into the dark winter of Arctic Norway in search of incredible aurora locations. This is a one of a kind itinerary for photographers who want to maximise their chances of capturing exceptional northern lights photography We have a unique team and level of experience, with a flexible itinerary based out of Tromso in Arctic Norway.

Polar Nights Aurora Workshop

 





Auroras vs Shorts
I'll never forget that night standing out in my shorts and capturing auroras. I never expected that to happen in my home state of Victoria. And it's given me that hunger to get back to Arctic Norway and chase some serious photography.



The Photography Blog





[ Current Mood - August 2024 ]


This year has seen some once in a lifetime moments for aurora chasing in the southern hemisphere, and not just on the most southern tips of Tasmania and New Zealand. Last night was a Level 7 storm and back in May we got a Level 8.

Living so far away from the poles here in Melbourne, it has to be a super big event to get a look in for us. Location is everything for auroras. On the evening of May 3 earlier this year Shellie and I were running a food photography workshop in country Victoria, just a few hours drive North-West of Melbourne. We do our best to make these workshops memorable, but stepping outside in our shorts to capture an aurora event is something we are unlikely to repeat every year!

I didn’t have any of my usual aurora gear with me. I happened to have my little 20mm F2 sigma wide angle, which I love for street photography, and a tripod that moment before was being used for capturing a time-lapse of Shellie styling cinnamon scrolls. I was literally standing in my shorts, in the Aussie bush, shooting auroras. The shots I got were nice, but obviously nothing as dramatic as what we see in the Arctic. The important thing however, is that our companions for the workshop got to enjoy it and take part in a global moment that may not come around for another few decades.

Last night was another burst of aurora activity. Not as strong, and not as well timed. Thanks to the power of the internet it feels like we can just step outside and see them for ourselves. We see some nice shades of red or purple on our social media, and expect to see that in our own night sky. But the human eye sees things a little differently to the camera, and not everyone is cranking the saturation dials to the same extent when editing. Results do vary.

The biggest problem is simply where you live. If you’re an inner city apartment surrounded by street lights and police sirens, the chances of capturing a moment on film that matches the romance in your mind is pretty slim. And the further you live from the wild waves of the Southern Ocean, the less intense you can expect even a Level 6 aurora event to perform.

Where you live matters.

I make no secret of the fact that if the Norwegians would let me, I would buy a small cabin near Tromsø and live the rest of my days eating cod and reindeer while waiting for the sky to dance. During the day the scenery of Arctic Norway is majestic. Winter light makes it an order of magnitude more special again, as the sun sits low over the horizon, or peaks out between snow clouds. Either option offers sufficient drama and beauty for my camera.

There are days when a warm bubble of air moves up from Europe and gets trapped inside the Arctic. Heat bubbles not only raise the temperature and threaten the blanket of snow, but they make the air moist and that means clouds. Clouds are the ultimate enemy of the aurora chaser.

You always hear about friends who flew all the way to Tromsø for just one night, and saw a great aurora and then went home to share the photos. What you don’t hear are the thousands and thousands of people who flew all the way to Tromsø for a whole week and never saw a thing because clouds stole the sky every night. People don’t like to share those stories nearly as much.

But it happens. When we stared running Arctic workshops over a decade ago the rough expectation was 3 nights of good photos across a 14 day trip. Some years we’ve had 13 nights of shoots instead of 3. Some evenings we get clear skies all night, but no aurora. Man that hurts. Sometimes we plan a special location to spend the night and Shellie bakes a cake and we sit around watching the aurora with our time-lapses rolling with a hot chocolate in hand.

The Arctic in winter is a mixed bag.

We choose Tromsø for our aurora trips because it’s located right on the arc of the aurora circle. Even a modest aurora event produces a magnificent show in Tromsø, because it’s right above your head. And those bigger nights, when you can see auroras in Paris or Scotland, they bounce and jiggle from places south and back up the poles, so we get to enjoy them as well while revelling in the different colours.

This coming winter is aligning with a solar maximum, meaning coronal ejections from the sun will be more active compared to any other year before or after. And I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be for that, than the far north of Norway. We still have a couple of places left for January 2025 in Tromsø. It’s an easy airport to fly to, and simply my favourite scenery in all of the Arctic. We have our quiet locations planned out, a private chef for the duration, and a local guide to ensure we get where ever we need to go.

If you enjoyed the taste of aurora down south this winter, come join us to chase the big ones up in Tromsø. Just don’t expect to be wearing your shorts when we’re shooting auroras up there!

– Ewen


Join us in Norway for January 2025. Book NOW :)
https://ewenbell.com/itinerary-polar.php




Learn more about why we see the auroras so differently with our eyes compared to our cameras:
https://ewenbell.com/blog/Why_Auroras_Look_Different_on_The_Camera





What to Pack for Aurora Chasing
https://youtu.be/1tLZ6XAlNFY





[ View from our Food Photography Workshop at 20mm ]


[ Aurora Storm March 2024 at 14mm ]


[ Looking up at a level 2 event in Tromsø ]


[ Clouds are the worst - March 2024 ]


[ Winter light in Norway ]


[ Feb 2024 tour in Tromsø ]


[ 14mm view from horizon to over our heads ]


  Keep Reading

Join Ewen's newsletter for monthly updates on new photography articles and tour offers...

Subscribe Here


Please Share Your Thoughts



This feature was last updated on Tuesday 13th August 2024
This article was published and written by

Copyright
All images and words on this web site are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.
When requesting permission to republish this article please quote reference #1355.

URL for this Article


Related Links
  Norway  Photographic Field Guides  Photography Tours  Auroras  Northern Lights  Workshops

Fabulous field guides for my favourite destinations. Full of rich detail to help you make the most of your photographic opportunity on location.

Why Auroras Look Different on The Camera

What your eyes see and what your camera sees are typically very different when it comes to the Aurora Borealis. Capturing the Northern lights on camera changes our entire perception of this phenomenon, and mostly for the better. Just a word of caution though if you're heading to the Arctic and expect to see those Photoshop colours with the naked eye.



Layers of Colour with ICM

Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) is a doorway to opening your creativity. Here I present a hands on guide to getting started, with an emphasis on using ICM to blend colours and textures.



Panning for Gold in Kathmandu

Panning is a simple way to kill an afternoon and make yourself exhausted. The concept is pretty simple: you use a slow shutter speed like 1/30 of a second to separate a moving object from a chaotic background. Hundreds of your shots will be useless. A rare few will be perfection. Those are the ones you show your friends.



Butterflies in Bhutan

I'm going to miss Bhutan when I head home, but this time for the most tiny of reasons. The butterflies. Having a few days to step into their miniature world of scaly wings and hairy heads has been an absolute joy.



Stars Over Uluru

I've written a few articles on the basics of star trails, but the finer details on making your trails look as lovely as possible are often where photographers struggle the most. This article explores the finer points from my annual visit to Uluru to chase the stars.



See What I See

Introducing my new series of streaming videos you can enjoy at home, and see what I see after taking a walk in the park with camera in hand. See what I see as I walk through the images on my desktop and extract precious moments from the RAW files.





Ewen's Photography Book



"ReIMAGINE" is now available to order online.
It's a very big and very generous book that will help you to reconnect with your creative side.


ReIMAGINE