It was an unexpected surprise. I met up with the group I was to travel with in Iceland for the next 9 days over the most exquisite dinner. I didn’t know the food was going to be so good!
But what turned out to be an even better surprise was finding out that there was a high level of aurora activity in the forecast. On our very first night! Sweet!!
The original plan was to start the tour the next morning, but with that kind of activity we seized the opportunity. Since we were still in the capital city of Reykjavik, we had to get away from the city lights to see the best aurora, so we drove to some lava fields about half an hour away from the city.
Here are a few of my favourite shots from that night:
I made these images with my Sony A6000 and the 16mm f/2.8 lens that I purchased especially for the purpose of night photography. This is my only lens with a super wide aperture of f/2.8 making it very fast in low light conditions. It’s also a pancake lens, so it’s nice and small and light.
The tour was off to a great start and the amazing photographic opportunities were just beginning. I’m delighted to report that the entire trip was a huge success, we had a great group of fun easy going people, and we learned from a couple of the best photographers I’ve had the pleasure of travelling with: Elia Locardi and Malcolm Fackender from Dream Photo Tours.
You’re going to be hearing a lot more about my fantastic trip to Iceland including more northern lights!
So wonderful. I’m following your photos with great joy as I’ve always wanted to see the auroras. I was lucky enough to see something like that one evening at my home in AZ but it was combined with a solar storm. Funny part is I was in the corral scooping, yup you guessed it, poop, horse poop. Unfortunately I had no idea at the time what was occurring and didn’t have a camera.
So glad you had such great opportunities to see that the very first night.
Beautiful. I never seen them in real but I will soon be able to .
That is so incredible. I want to take a flight there now!
I’m about to start out on a similar road such as yours…I admire you for your tenacity.
Ben
Gorgeous Images!! My dream is to one day photograph the auroras someday & these images inspire me even more!!
On first night! How incredible. =) I did manage it on my first night in Norway too, but not before bad weather forecast pulled the hope down, lots and lots of walking until I finally saw it. It’s really a test of perseverance!
Hi Andrew, I’ve seen some excellent photos of the northern lights in Norway. Another place to add to the bucket list! I’m going to need a bigger bucket 🙂 Thanks for your visit and comments.