Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
One of my life goals was to see the northern lights, or aurora borealis, in person. When I began learning photography, that goal changed to include photographing them as well. I learned a few tips from my friend and expert night photographer, Beth Ruggiero-York (Beth’s website), a couple weeks ago. I was told that there would be a very slight chance that we might see the aurora in Greenland, but that it would require a combination of all the right factors occurring at the right time. Mid-August is typically the beginning the viewing season for the aurora in northern climates since the sun begins to set early enough to give a dark sky at night. Greenland is north enough in the northern hemisphere for this to apply, but we were in South Greenland which lessened our chances in comparison to some of the other popular areas such as Disko Bay (along the west coast but farther north) or northeastern Greenland.
We also needed a clear night and had heard reports that this summer had been one of the worst summers in recent history for rain, fog and storms. We believed it as we had already lost two days of our Greenland trip due to flight cancellations from fog. Our best chance would be when we were at camp that first night, many miles away from the nearest village or house. When we arrived, however, we had just taken a zodiac for 2 hours through a rain storm and the skies were clouded up. We headed to bed in our tent around 10:30pm, only to be awakened an hour later by Sanda, one of our fellow adventurers from Spain, screaming “Northern Lights” and “Get up! Hurry!” I jumped from the top bunk, screaming at Troy to “Get Up” too! I threw my camera gear together and headed out with Troy lighting the way with his phone to the overlook where we could see the water of the fjord. One of my first shots was the scene below.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 5 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
From there, it just got better. The lights changed constantly with slow swirling movements. The blanket of green light above the water in the image above changed and became more concentrated. I adjusted my composition to focus more on the intense greens along the left side of the water.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
We continued to watch the skies and saw a streak going high into the sky over the mountains to our right. I quickly changed to a vertical orientation to capture the intensity of the streaks flowing high above our heads. The Milky Way was up there as well but it was drowned out by the vibrant greens.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 5 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
The longer we watched the sky, the more we noticed the color of the light change and a purple/pink color showed up! It appeared as if the lights were coming from a small group of clouds, spreading forever into the sky above us.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
As the light became more purple, I switched back to a vertical orientation to capture this new display of color.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
I constantly kept my eyes on the mountains to my left as well since they provided a great silhouette for a more simplistic shot, focusing on the colors of the light and the stars.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
As the night progressed, clouds began to increase in streaks above the mountain, creating a more dramatic look to the silhouetted mountaintops. It became colder as well but photographing the aurora in 30-40 deg F temperature was a blessing compared to typical aurora photography in minus 40 deg F in Alaska in December. I was definitely grateful!
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
Well past midnight, more clouds came in but the lights continued their ever-changing display. This resulted in more texture in my images as the light filtered through the patches of clouds.
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 16 mm, f/2.8, 5 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
My final series of shots early that next morning included this green glow that lit up the valley. I achieved my final goal of the night, capturing the aurora in the reflection of the water!
Image: Aurora over Qaleragdlit glacier, South Greenland. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24 mm at 15 mm, f/2.8, 5 sec, ISO 6400, on tripod.
I could have left Greenland after this first night completely satisfied with the whole trip even though we had been in the country for less than 12 hours. We didn’t realize how lucky we were to see the aurora that night and soon found out that it had not been visible in any of the towns or villages where we would soon be heading. In fact, no other night on the rest of the trip was clear enough for viewing this spectacular sight. We were that fortunate.
To see these images individually, please visit my gallery here: Amy’s Impressions