Aurora Borealis

The Rewinder

Awarded Landscape First Prize 🏆 at NEIL DANKOFF Photo competition. - Exhibited in Neil's Yorkdale Kandy Gallery in Toronto - Canada (April 2021) - Selected for the Equipe de France 🇫🇷 for the World Photography Cup 2022 in category Nature. - Awarded 2nd Place in Special Night Photography category - at ND Awards 2021 international photography contest. 🥈 - Awarded BRONZE Winner 🥉 in category Pro Fine Art Landscape At Prix de la Photographie de Paris 2021 Senja - Northern Norway We can find windy roads in many places in Northern Norway, but finding the right angle to photograph them can be another story. Catching this incredible aurora into the narrow valleys of Senja took me good 2 hours of waiting under -10 degrees C, in a particularly awkward position perched on a sharp rock edge. I had studied and found this place using maps. I could see the potential before going there but I had never seen anyone taking a photo of it this way. The big work is to be able to anticipate the editing process once I am on spot. I knew roughly where to stand to have the right angle but it was not easy to access as the place is covered with big boulders fallen from the cliff edges. Taking a photo is something I love, but working hard beforehand to plan the photo is something I live for.

Split The Atom

Laksvatn - Northern Norway A cold night under the full moon in Northern Norway. The river beds become frozen under the cold temperatures. It offers amazing shapes and textures of ice, as thin as glass, which works perfectly to lead the eye from the bubbly foreground, up to the dancing green sky.

Discover Tamok

Tamokdalen - Northern Norway Tamokdalen, is a valley with incredible mountain shapes located in the inland part. The microclimate out there is quite interesting and offer huge plunge of temperatures compared to the Norvegian coastline. This night it was -14°c, the aurora prediction were quite low, so I chose to go to this spot where I would have a great backdrop on "Lille Russetinden" facing North; Looking for the aurora to dance behind it. When the Aurora prediction are predicted to be low, I choose to face toward North west, North, or North East, as this is most likely the first place I would see the aurora starting to shape. I walked up the river to start with, not knowing what I would find on my way. passing slippery ice and dense forest, looking for an opening up deeper in the valley.. until I found this epic spot, quite open, giving me a clean foreground and the aurora started dancing. Adding a person here brings a great sense of scale and exploration to the image which I particularly love. Photographed with the Sony A7C Thanks Sony-France for making me try this body camera.

Beyond The Pier

Ringvassøya - Northern Norway - By cumulating experience as an outdoor guide and night photographer, I have the chance to bring people from around the world close to the Aurora Borealis. Working as a guide has now brought me to the Arctic where I can develop my photography skills, get off the beaten track to find a place never shot before, and bring tourists to it. I have spent many nights on this spot waiting to catch the right moment. And here it is!

Øvre Dividalen

After 5 tries, I finally capture the dancing lights above that mountain in Dividalen. It is located about 140km south East of Tromsø toward the Swedish boarder, at the entrance of the national park Øvre Dividalen, which is home to brown bears and wolverines, especially numerous in this area. I had been to this exact spot and found few times cloudy sky, not enough snow, or with full moon, which was not good as too much distraction with the shadows of the trees in the canyon. I also had it with clear sky but no aurora activity, and finally this night it paid off under -13°c, waiting for it during two hours until it appeared at the right spot. This is a vertical panorama shot on 2.0, ISO 1000 opening for 10 seconds. It is really interesting to get this composition as I manage to build this flow into the image just but standing to one exact spot. One meter too much on the right, and the mountain is not in line with the canyon, one meter too much on the left, and the rocks in the canyon cut the river flow that leads your eye toward the backdrop.

Higher Prediction

- Exhibited at " Exhibition Of The Arts Of Aurora 2021" in the Hong Kong Culture Centre in April 2021. Organized by AuroraAssociation. Co-organized by UNESCO (H.K. Association) - Selected in the 2021 NORTHERN LIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR Collection by ''CaptureTheAtlas" Signaldalen - Northern Norway The Arctic hosts some of the most beautiful and dramatic sights you can find in Europe and is complemented with the lady aurora dancing in the sky. This night was strong intensities of lights planned in Northern Norway (up to KP7). The activity we got far North was not the strongest but enough to send you in green dreamy land. We can find here frozen shapes close by the river, and gather some reflecting aurora light in the ice.

The Welcoming Night

Iceland - Kleifarvatn This is a game of colors I really worked and played with while having my feet in the water. I could see on the back of my camera screen how the city light of Reykjavik brought warm tones on the left of the rock and how the aurora punched the color balance on the right-hand side. In my foreground, the Eastern full moon created that amazing rim of brilliance on the outer line of the rocks that melted with glee the blue tones of the shadows and darker rocky areas.

End Of Afternoon

Awarded HONORABLE MENTION in Landscape category in APA - ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2020 Lyngen Alps - Norway After an afternoon spent in the Norwegian Alps, hiking and exploring the area. The aurora here is shot at 4.30PM to my biggest surprise. I was walking down that tiny river path, when I looked back and realised that the sky was dancing. Lucky the ground was quite frozen, so my footsteps did not affect the foreground. It is often really hard to capture lights showing toward South East above the Lyngen Alps Mountain range, but this day was full of luck. We can see this fainted brighter light on the left behind the mountains which is the low moon reflecting on the clouds giving pumping contrast with the diamond shape river in the foreground. The best thing about this capture is that the aurora is not the main subject into the frame, but brings the wow effect on top of this amazing landscape.

The Eye Of The River

Kvaløya - Northern Norway I often go and explore new places thinking of one particular shot in mind. This is a perfect example. This night, I took some of my guests to a place where I had never been before, and where no one goes; This is what makes the difference between photos we see every day on social media and the ones that are unexpected, and really creative as they are improvised, and shot on the moment. This is a focus-stacked and exposure blend to be able to gather detailed snowy foreground and sharp, smooth movements of the lady aurora.

The Last Vision

Awarded Honorable Mention in the category Fine Art - Landscape in 2020 TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FOTO AWARDS Awarded HONORABLE MENTION in Landscape category in APA - ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2020 Tromsø - Northern Norway Last week of October, I went hiking up to that lake edge, a place I scouted during the day to find these great reflections and organize our light orientation for the aurora night shoot. I waited up there for 3 hours, cameras on tripods, composition ready to shoot, the battery in the pocket to save power. After a long game of waiting, I decided to pack my bags, mentally ready to hike back down, when suddenly.. at the last sight behind me, that dance happened in the sky... . . Cond: New moon, strong auroras Orient: NW Set: F2.0, 8sec, 2500 Tech: Foc Stacked PS + LR

The Shark Fin

Going off the beaten track is something that brings so much value to a photo. It builds an incredible story behind it. On this overnight trip to the Northern tip of the Lyngen Alps, I came along with 3 Norwegian girls friends to find the tiny hytta located on this coastline. We only knew about the GPS coordinates and got ourselves onto a mission to find it. We brought our own wood supply, food, and water, and stayed overnight. A few meters behind it, and to my biggest surprise, we found a stunning rock formation. Is this whole shot actually real? It is. The auroras are here, the high clouds in the sky are dancing, and I am up here hanging on the side on the shark fin. The only thing distorted is the scale of the little climber as this rock formation is four meters high above the snow line and not fifteen meters as it appears.

The Older Coast

Oldervik - Tromsø Area - Northern Norway I used to love having half a moon in the sky to light up my foreground. The more it goes, and the more I realize that with a new moon / no moon, we can find the right light in a really particular way. For this, I will be patient, and after finding the right composition, I will wait for the strong aurora to cast its light on the foreground and bring this homogeneous balance of light and uniform tones of colors.

The Travel Bent

A long exposure under the northern lights of Northern Norway. This night, the red colors showed up above our greens. We see many times oversaturated and over-edited aurora colors on social media, and this one has a pure sky, not touched, not edited. Cameras are more powerful than our eyes, and reds are rarely perceived with our own eyes. I drove by this hill top many times and finally managed to capture that technical long exposure with this car light passing by the windy road.

Light Season

Awarded HONORABLE MENTION WINNER in Landscape Category at APA - ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019 Haifoss - Iceland - A banger from September 2nd early season, in front of this amazing wonder of Iceland. Such a beautiful show nature gave us, with incredible fast movements. A great way to start the northern light season

Criss Crossing

Rekvik - Northern Norway

The Third Mirror

Selected by Federation Française de Photographie et des Métiers de l'Image. (FFPMI) to represent the French Team for the 2121 editions of the World Photography Cup - WPC - Category Nature Tromvik - Northern Norway - I have learned that luck, patience and creativity are the weapons you need every day and every night in Northern Norway. "The Third Mirror'' selected by "Fédération française de la photographie et des métiers de l'image (FFPMI)" to represent ''l’équipe de France'' for the photography world cup 2021.

Creamy Light

Skibotn - Northern Norway - So far the fastest movement and most creamy colors i have ever seen with my own eyes. Crossing the sky in a blink of an eye, here is one of the most impressive northern light show we had this winter 2018-19.

Meeting In The Bay

One of the first images of our 15 days sailing trip in this amazing area of Lofoten, in Northern Norway in Mid April. The last aurora shows were so rewarding. We anchored our sailing boat " La Boheme " in this little bay. We noticed a sailboat already here, standing in the middle, and we realized it was the famous YouTubers Dan and Kika from Sailing Uma. We shared the night out there, in this epic landscape. I wanted to shoot some of the last auroras of the season so around 11 pm, I got the little dinghy boat out in the water. I love the silence of the night and rowed from the boat to the shoreline alone, with all my camera equipment. I stayed there about an hour, time to find this incredible composition, with our sailboat on the right side, when the lights started pounding above my head. After a few minutes, my adrenaline was as high as I could get it. I packed my bag after capturing this moment, jumped back in the dingy boat, started rowing, and quickly realized I was going to sweat as the wind was in my face. I felt that it was going to be really hard to reach the boat back by myself. I have to say I was happy I had rafting paddling experience before, that taught me how to paddle strongly and efficiently alone!

Dimension

Senja Island - Northern Norway This is a photograph I had in mind a long time ago since one of my friend captured it with great symmetry in the water. I always thought I wanted to have a different approach to break that symmetry of the fjord but enhance the one perceived in the water. I had this night the most amazing luck as I was racing against the powerful light to try and reach that view point before they vanish in the starry sky. I just had time to get out of the car, put my tripod down, lock the camera, turn it on, and click as my settings were already locked in for fast motion auroras. The results offered amazing depth thought the scene and soft but strong aurora movement.

The Tidal Rise Portrait

Laksvatn - Northern Norway When reaching the end of March, the window of the dark sky is getting shorter. I caught this incredible show around 11.30PM, after 2 hours of waiting in the cold and witnessing the lights kicking behind me toward the south, in the wrong direction. With patience, they eventually came above my head and dancing in the North behind this mountain top. I was thinking of going there early and find a great composition, but this area is a tiny arm linked to the fjord water, so the tide comes up and down, and it was really hard to stick to one composition because everything was changing shape as the water level was slowly rising.

Polished By The Sea

round boulders by the sea in Tromvik area - Des rochers ronds polis par la mer vers Tromvik - Norway

Bright Panic

Grotfjord (Tromsø) - Northern Norway - When the show becomes a dance in itself. Crowns above your head are always incredible shapes to witness. I was standing facing North, toward the beautiful fjord, and set my tripod and camera for 20 minutes at least, to be able to wait for the aurora to show up. It did show up, but on the other side facing south above my head. Taken by a panic rush, scared to miss the shot, I had to change my whole position, and quickly switch my camera settings to catch this quick shot.

Down Flow

A five hours wait rewarded by amazing light in Senja. This area is quite special, located on the second biggest island of Norway, It is not easy to access due to the high risk of avalanches around this area. Only a few winters can provide both in the same time: skies dark enough for the auroras to be seen, and level of snow low enough to get to this area safely; and December 2020 was one of them.

Power Of Night Sky

/ LIMITED EDITION Print of 30 / Tromsø - Northern Norway Many wonder how to capture this kind of photo in such an environment. I can say there is quite some work behind it. These are really long days of waiting for the right weather window, hours of scouting, studying the terrain, the light orientation, loads of knowledge about the auroras, and long hours to wait in the cold. On this shot, the sky and its reflection are absolutely untouched of editing and completely genuine, with no adjustment. The aurora is powerful, there is no moon to help to light the foreground, and these green lights bring the natural kick needed to show the beautiful bumpy snowy foreground.