Beam me up, Scotty!

My fear of the dark are well-documented. Beginning of last week i

chellenged this fear on a whole new level...

 

The aurora forecast was promising and i decided to do my best at

capturing this phenomenon. As darkness was approaching i put on my

climbing skins and started the long climb towards one of the many

mountains in the area. First i had to walk through the mountainforest,

with crooked creepy trees. I distracted myself by constantly looking

up to the sky instead of looking around for ghosts. Once i got over

the treeline i was forced to forget my fears for about an hour...it`s

impossible to be afraid when your climbing up a ridiculously steep

mountain... I`d rather be exhausted than scared shitless :-)

 

Eventually i reached the area just under the peak. My original plan

was to climb all the way up to the top, but i was too exhausted to

even consider such a thing.

 

My eyes wander across the beautiful mountainscape. The sky was getting

darker, but my eyes had adjusted enough to get a good view of the

scenario. Suddenly i see a creature about 100 meters ahead of me. A

characteristic shape quicly moving across the white mountain. The

illusive wolverine... Not the most common creature to see. I`ve spent

a day or two in the mountains over the years, but this was only the

second time i`ve come across this cute predator. What a nice start to

the evening....

 

There was no sign of the aurora yet. I looked up at the clear blue

sky, and when i say blue i really mean blue... I saw a white cloud and

started to worry that clouds would come rolling in. I stared at this

weak cloud when it suddenly started moving. Not moving like you would

expect from a regular cloud, it started dancing...up and down and from

side to side. When i realized it was the aurora i must have looked

like Hank Moody in the company of 20 naked strippers....

 

I then started the search for compositional spots. Really not that

difficult in such a place. I fired away frame after frame, constantly

moving around. Then the action really exploded. The aurora was more

intense than i`ve ever seen before, and i`ve lived up here my entire

life. It only lasted for a few minutes, but i`ll remember it for quite

some time...

 

At one point the light would come straight up from the peak, like

there was someone doing nuclear testing just behind it. I shot at iso

800 at f/4 and shutterspeeds down to 2 secs. The landscape became

significantly brighter and i just smiled for myself... This is 4

seconds of concentrated northern lights beaming up from the highest

peak. I have another shot where it seriously looks like the whole

mountain is about to go off, but i`ll save that for later...

 

A couple of hours later i was standing at the same spot i shot

"Blowing in the Wind" when i heard footsteps in the snow. The snow was

windswept and crunchy so i could hear everything quite clearly. I

froze when i saw the silhouette of the wolverine just about 50 meters

in front of me. It just stood there watching me for a while before it

disappeared. 10 minutes later the same thing happened...this time it

appeared closer. My heart was pounding... I`ve never heard of a

wolverine attacking humans, but in the dark bent over my camera i

could pretty easily be mistaken for a big fat reindeer. I dont have

horns, or anything that could resemble horns, at least not on my head,

but still.... Kinda like surfers attacked by sharks thinking they were

seals :-)

 

I packed my gear and rushed towards the steep mountainside where i had

planned to ski down. In complete darkness with a wolverine circling me

in... I somehow managed to get home safely without breaking any bones

or becoming the nightly meal for the wolverine....ahhh...good times!

 

17mm

iso 800

f/4

4 sec

 

Have terrific weekend everyone!

 

Cheers!

 

-Arild-

An original photo of northern lights. Green light is making a nice curve which exits from the upper left corner and makes a good diagonal-like effect. Sky is a clean parliament blue for a change.This is a good example of minimalistic night shots. I am into night photography and I have seen enough photographs to know that this is an example of the better ones. Congratulations.

Wow! This is simply majestic. It has taken my breath away.

Incredible Aurora and an equally incredible story. Absolutely beautiful. Becky

i am a fan of your work, and i think you have a couple of photos which are better than this ( at least for my taste), but in an objective way i must admit that it is very original, interesting, and convincing. well worth the 7/7.

Excelente imagen, preciosa luz, color, gran encuadre y extra nitidez, Saludos cordiales Arild.

Pretty cool Arild! I can't say I've ever seen an aurora like this.

All the best,

Neil

Great title.One Beautiful photo.Congradulations.

 

Chris

 

Original...love the title and think it is a great night shot!

All the best, Pamela

It's hard to realize these lights are on our own planet sometimes. Very creative shot.

Friendly local wolverine coming to ask if you enjoyed the show, and you run off. Not very sociable, are you... ;) Excellent picture!

Great shot , I like composition and colors!

wouw, what a beauty, cheers Jana

Splendid, no other words.

Wow. very interesting work. good color and composition made it outstanding.

Regards,
Shahram

 

Very nice composition and contrast in colors. I like it a lot.

Magnificent. I appreciate huge effort put into taking this photo as well as describing it. Lovely composition and great colours, just feast for my eyes.

i am completely taken by this series of images. love the descriptions too.