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) - FINALIST & BEST OF NATION (France) at WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY CUP 2022 in Category Nature. Selected in the France National Team by FFPMI (Equipe De France) - Awarded 2nd Place in Special Night Photography category - at ND Awards 2021 international photography contest. 🥈 -TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FOTO AWARDS 2021 SILVER WINNER in Fine Art Landscape 🥈 - Awarded BRONZE Winner 🥉 in category Pro Fine Art Landscape At Prix de la Photographie de Paris 2021 Senja - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed : Orientation - 
WEST Aurora Intensity - MODERATE Moon - FULL 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.

Higher Prediction

Signaldalen - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation -
 NORTH - NORTH WEST Aurora Intensity - MODERATE Moon - NEW Selected in the 2021 NORTHERN LIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR Collection by ''CaptureTheAtlas" 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) 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 (up to KP7). The activity we got far North was not the strongest due to our position on the map. In Tromsø area, we are located on 69 degrees latitude, making it challenging to observe the heavy auroral activity which extends toward mid latitudes. By venturing along the water line, I could find frozen shapes and play around with some reflecting aurora light in the ice. I receive many feedbacks via social medias, as a ‘’lucky person’’ to be able to capture such powerful images until the planing work behind my photographs is understood. Many of my photographs require hours of studying, a huge amount of patience and often result in frustration before I capture the right image.
 When following my work, we comprehend how much effort, passion and love I put into building an impactful image.

The Platform

The 2023 Unique Aurora Shot Ivvárasággi - Signaldalen - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed: Orientation - North Aurora Intensity - Very Strong Moon - NEW That day, 23rd of March 2023, Earth just got hit by the strongest geomagnetic storm in 6 Years, and I was out there executing my unique aurora shot of the year ''The Platform''. Both, Maria and I, had big doubts regarding this climb. Of course, we had the chance to have unintentionally chosen one of the best aurora night displays in years to do this mission; But this is 10% of the work so "The Platform" image could actually happen. We were trying to assess the situation when we began hiking, we could see the platform from below, and it looked way too steep to actually do it. We told each other we would go to the base of the steepest part (the last 200 meters) and make a decision from up there. We decided to leave our skis, snowshoes, and snowboard on the way, at the bottom of that steep part, and place a waypoint on my GPS to make sure to find it back when we descend down during the dark night.

Towering Ice

Selected in the 2022 NORTHERN LIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR Collection by ''CaptureTheAtlas" Scoresby Sund - Greenland The Conditions Needed: Orientation - South East Aurora Intensity - LOW - MODERATE Moon - FULL
 On high latitude such as 71 degrees North, here on the Eastern side of Greenland, the oval of aurora varies and slightly leans down. It brings stronger aurora activity on more southern latitude due to the magnetic North being tilted.
 
 We are here under a predicted KP 2/3, facing South East on an evening where the aurora would have probably appeared toward the north or the sides on a location such as Tromsø in Northern Norway on 69 degrees North. We had in mind to place an iceberg in front of the aurora dancing so we carefully started to position ourselves toward south East. East being the first darkest place into the sky as the sun sets on the other side and keeps on casting twilight until late hours.

Hand Signal

Otertinden - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation -
 WEST- NORTH WEST Aurora Intensity - MODERATE Moon - NEW A location I have been many times, thus. I know about these two trees since I saw the incredible image from Kelvin Yuen, Winner of the ILPOTY 2020. One of the image was framing these trees in a perfect balance and flow. I took inspiration from his image and wanted to capture these trees and revisit it with another composition style involving quite advanced techniques; And so, by adding the whole two trees into the frame. It was really hard work as fitting these two into the whole frame could not work out of only one frame. The technique I used here is a vertical Panorama of three shots and also using a focus stacking to get sharp details into my sky, my aurora, the mountain and the tree trunks. This whole image is captured within 2 minutes to make sure of covering the same light glow through the whole frame and a full homogeneity. Each of the 6 shots needed to capture this image was snapped in a row by adapting settings fast to preserve the light tones. The wide angle distortion used while creating the panorama pushes the depth effect into the frame, creating a unique dimension.

Blue Ascent

Polvartinden - Signaldalen - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed: Orientation - South Aurora Intensity - Very Strong Moon - NEW We started the ascent of this 47°steep snowy slope when it was blue hour, -21°c and the auroras were cranking in the South. I could not resist snapping this adventurous image that left us speechless. During the whole way up, we got hammered by emotional elevators, thinking "it's not gonna happen", because we could not find a safe passage upward until we did, kept ascending 10 meters, and felt stuck and doubtful again. Going up is tricky, but we are thinking of how will we be going down. It is a crazy feeling to see that you are literally 50 meters away from your goal, and you might not be able to put your foot on it. We are ascending the steepest point and I can hear Maria sinking her ice axe into the 20cm thickness of compact snow and yelling "but where is this f**king platform?!" Once we passed the steepest part, Maria in front of me started to see the tip of the cliff and exclaimed: "I see the cliff! I see the cliff!". I think I will remember this kick of adrenalyn it gave me for quite a while. I could only think "No way, we made it... now, how is the sky?" We faced the cliff, standing on the platform, and the aurora were dancing above us; The jackpot.

Fog Roll

Lakselvbukt - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation -
 SOUTH - SOUTH EAST Aurora Intensity - STRONG Moon - NEW Tide: LOW Strong Snow Coverage Here is some of the most incredible conditions i have had in the area. After visiting this place many times, I managed to capture some great shots of that exact location but I always was bothered by the light polution coming from the streetlights of Lakselbukt. On this image, at this moment, the fog rolled in from the left side entirely covering this light polution and offering an insane mood. The two little lights seen here are from a lonely house on the hill. The magic about it also, is that the aurora started dancing in the south east. Strong activity is needed for that, and that is exactly where I wanted to have them, behind the southern Lyngen Alps range. Right time, right place.

Deep In Signaldalen

Signaldalen - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed: Orientation - South Aurora Intensity - Very Strong Moon - NEW

Contemplate

Lakselvbukt - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation -
 SOUTH - SOUTH EAST Aurora Intensity - STRONG Moon - NEW Tide: LOW Strong Snow Coverage Having the aurora dancing above the Lyngen range is quite something, but having a bank of fog rolling in from the left and covering the town lights of Lakselvbukt is something I would have never hoped for. I had shot this place many times, but i always remember having this distractive light pollution into the frame and here, the conditions lined up perfectly with fog fully blocking the orange warm light. We stay warm by the fire and thoughtfully stare at the dance happening above these tall mountains.

Split The Atom

A cold night under the full moon in Northern Norway. Laksvatn - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
NORTH - NORTH EAST Aurora Intensity - LOW Moon - FULL The river beds become frozen under the cold temperatures of Northern Norway. This offers amazing opportunities to find shapes and textures of ice, as thin as glass. I use these natural shapes to lead the eye from the bubbly detailed foreground, up to the dancing green sky hugging the mountain. This textured ice in the foreground enhances great dimension and perspective into the frame. It is going from front to back, but also from surface to depth under the ice. We become curious, as we are tempted to have a look at what's hiding under these fragments of thin crystal. This image is focused stacked to be able to capture the whole scene into sharp details and relief.

The 2022 Unique Aurora Shot #2

The Conditions Needed : Orientation - 
NORTH Aurora Intensity - STRONG Moon - NEW Tromsø - Northern Norway Series Photograph 2/3 Shooting such images in these conditions brings an incredible feeling of satisfaction, especially after spending such a long time waiting for this exact right moment.






 After days and days of planing, waiting for the perfect weather window, looking forward to having all the elements lining up and being able to gather the equipments needed, we were able to document the whole project without knowing how many attempts it would take us.
 Many people who see my work call me ‘’lucky’’ on social media when they realise what I see, but they don’t try to understand the work behind my photographs.
 Many people who follow my work then comprehend how much effort, passion and love I put into planing a powerful photo I have in mind. 

 The most interesting part is the story behind the capture, what did we go through to grab that precious moment in time. This is about showing all the effort and the struggle that goes until you reach the shot.

Fight The Weather

These last days of January 2022, the weather has been so complicated. We started the evening under the snow from Tromsø and looked for these openings in the sky the whole night. My mood is shifting up and down all the time, the same way as the weather does it here, driving through a snow storm, and having a bright open clear sky few minuts later. Chasing the aurora is an art, and it makes me live these incredible moments. This photo is a vertical panorama of three shots in F2.0 and just a few seconds long of exposition to be able to keep a constant movement of aurora from top to bottom and being able to stitch the images efficiently. It means that the three images have been shot within 30 seconds to capture the exact moment. The fact of using this technique allows to preserve a great perspective from top to bottom of the frame, as if I shoot this with a really wide angle on portrait shape, the wide angle brings too much distortion at the bottom of the frame, and stretches the little person too much, making it really unrealistic. Takvatnet - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
EAST Aurora Intensity - MODERATE Moon - NEW

The 2022 Unique Aurora Shot

Series Photograph 1 / 3 The temperature was -27 degrees C this night. It took us 2 hours skiing up 750 meters elevation to reach the location. A first attempt was made on February 2nd 2022 to capture this image but did not succeed. On the second attempt, I finally bring home this unique moment, spending a total of 6.5 hours outside. We had studied this place for a long time and got the idea one and half year ago. Florian Ledoux, my best friends here, had spent many hours and many ski tours up to that mountain, and kept on bringing me some really nice phone photos which gave me this insane idea. Why don’t we try to get you out there, with some dancing aurora behind you, Tromsø city lights, and our tent lit up. It sounded like a dream shot. To be able to capture the aurora correctly, we had to understand what direction we were facing to be able to calculate what intensity of light we needed. After studying the exact spot where I wanted to take the photo from, I then calculated that I would be facing toward East - South East. That brought us to a conclusion that we would need a KP index of 3 or 4 out of 9. 
Once this is decided, we would have to keep a constant eye open on the aurora previsions during the upcoming weeks, so we could plan the night and decide when we want to lunch the mission. We would also need to time it perfectly with the weather forecast. After all this incredible time spent planning and doubting, it is with full satisfaction that I introduce this photograph. Tromsø - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed : Orientation - 
SOUTH EAST Aurora Intensity - STRONG Moon - NEW

The Eye Of The River

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. It pushes me to be really creative as some of these moments are really not expected and are fully improvised. It feels like a huge rush of adrenaline I am just thinking at the moment: "This aurora shape is amazing so let's enhance it with some really good composition. This is a focus-stacked and exposure blend to be able to gather detailed snowy foreground and sharp, smooth movements of the lady aurora. Kvaløya - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - NORTH EAST - EAST Aurora Intensity - LOW - MODERATE Moon - FULL

The 2022 Unique Aurora Shot #3

Series - Photograph 3 / 3 The first few photos of our project were panoramas taken with the auroras dancing in the North. Throughout out the night, The cold was really affecting my photography, as I was all the time switching lenses, to be able to mix wide angle shots and also some close up photos. According to how the aurora was moving, I kept on switching lenses. I believe I did this process maybe 17 or 18 times during the evening, loosing feeling of my fingers every single time and gathered some unwanted scratches on both of my lenses. I had some moments when I could not even press the shutter to capture the image as I had absolutely no feeling of my finger tips in both hands. Tromsø - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed : Orientation - 
NORTH Aurora Intensity - STRONG Moon - NEW

Discover Tamok

Tamokdalen - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
NORTH Aurora Intensity - LOW Moon - NEW 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. 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. We were hiking through open and dense forest, looking for an opening, deeper in the valley so I could have the view on this mountain shape.. Around midnight, I found this epic spot, quite open, giving me a clean foreground and then, the aurora started dancing. Adding a person here brings a great sense of scale and a vibe of exploration to the image which I particularly love. Photographed with the Sony A7C Thanks Sony-France for making me try this body camera.

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 The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
NORTH Aurora Intensity - LOW - MODERATE Moon - NEW Last week of October 2021, 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. One of the most crucial element here, the sky and the foreground are shot on different settings, but within a few seconds appart to be able to keep the full homogeneity of exposure.

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! The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
WEST Aurora Intensity - MODERATE Moon - NEW

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 five meters high above the snow line and not fifteen meters as it appears. Northern Lyngen Alps - Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
SOUTH WEST Aurora Intensity: - STRONG Moon - FULL

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. This place is home to brown bears and wolverines, especially numerous in this area. I had been to this exact spot many times and found numerous different conditions; cloudy sky, not enough snow, or with full moon, which was not good because it brought too much distraction with the shadows of the trees in the canyon. I also found this place with clear sky but no aurora activity. 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. I managed to build this flow into the image just by 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. Dividalen - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
WEST Aurora Intensity -
 MODERATE Moon - NEW

Lyngen Frost

An evening under full moon on the eastern side of the Lyngen Alps. I had seen this location a few times on social medias. I eventually found it after studying some maps the reliefs of the mountain. I wanted to place this special pointy mountain right in the middle of the frame, and build a composition that would crown it and bring your eye into it. This night, I hosted a private tour and I brought my guests to this incredible location in order to grab that amazing moment around 18h. Lyngen Alps - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
WEST Aurora Intensity - MODERATE Moon - FULL

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. Grøtfjord - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
WEST - NORTH WEST Aurora Intensity - LOW -MODERATE Moon - NEW

Light Season

Awarded HONORABLE MENTION WINNER in Landscape Category at APA - ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019 Haifoss - Iceland - The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
NORTH - NORTH EAST Aurora Intensity - LOW - MODERATE Moon - NEW 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

I took some of my guests on an Aurora chase, to look for some of the best spots on the coastline of Kvaløya. Of course the forecast plays a lot on where to go and how to pick a spot. This night, clouds were coming from the south, so the strategy was to get to the coast as soon as we could, to capture the clear sky toward the west before they cover it completely. We see them coming slowly on the left side of this shot, and it helps us understand how timing is so important. Rekvik - Northern Norway The Conditions Needed:

 Orientation - 
WEST Aurora Intensity -
 MODERATE - LOW Moon - FULL