Some pretty surreal colors of the northern lights. Looks like one trip is not enough.

There is the milky way and the stars.

The 4 days of northern lights chasing were great. With all great trips, it had to end somewhere.  We will be heading back to Singapore in afew hour’s time. Here’s a photo taken outside our campsite where we spent the night in a modern lavvu in Senja, battling the intermittent waves of hail, rain and snow in sub zero temperatures.

On the 2nd day of the hunt, the northern light were obscured by some low clouds, leaving edges of the clouds with a hint of green turquoise hues.

Some images from the 1st day’s trip.

The day started rather slow with extremely faint sightings of the northern lights. In fact, this light is barely visible through naked eyes, but the camera was able to pick it up with a long shutter speed. I like how it’s hanging around beside the milky way.

Occasionally, it got a little more intense. It was like this for almost 5 hours.

The Milky Way. Prior to this, I didn’t know the Milky Way was that huge. I’ve always thought I needed a telephoto lens for it, but I was wrong.

The lights constantly teasing us.

Sometimes the streak of lights appear really long, stretching across the skies like a rainbow.

And without warning, things just exploded. Within minutes, we were surrounded by explosive bursts of the northern lights.

They were everywhere. It’s hard to pick the one you want to shoot. At some point in times, you can see the lights ‘racing’, somewhat like electronic equalizers.

These lights have a life of their own as they danced in almost unpredictable patterns.

The reds were hard to see with the naked eye and are more obvious on the camera.

The lake in a distance illuminated by the lights.

Massive burst of lights.

The lights running slightly below the clouds. In minutes, they were completely covered by the clouds and the entire area was blanketed with an eerie glow.

It’s 6am here and I’m too excited to get to sleep. Writing this from Tromso, Norway with a growling stomach.

I’ve always loved auroras since young. I remember first seeing them in a Japanese movie about the sinking of Tokyo. I made a mental note that I must see this phenomenon when I grow up. Today, my dream came true.

We took a 20+ hour journey from Singapore to Oslo with an 8 hour transit in Qatar followed by another hour’s flight to Tromso. When we arrived, the weather looked pretty cloudy but we kept positive, believing that it will be a good night. As the sun sets, the skies cleared and we met up with our guides for the aurora hunt. We were pretty happy that we were the only 2 people on that tour and therefore would not be rushed or compromised with our timings. The guides told us that there was a massive solar storm last weekend and they got some really awesome sightings (with images to prove!). But they also said that it’s not likely that there will be another today. I was a little disappointed, but was happy to make do with whatever kind of light I can catch.

We dropped by a few scenic sites before finally stopping on a high vantage point surrounded by hills. Here, we waited and saw some faint traces of the elusive northern lights which the cameras were able to pick up, but appear really faint to human eyes. To cut the story short so I can catch some sleep, we waited for a good 5 hours and was almost on the verge of going back to the hotel when things took a turn for the better. Out of nowhere, a streak of light appeared and both me and William scrambled for our cameras in darkness and left the hot tea that was served to us on the roof of the car. One streak extended into two, and three … and a formation. It hit us so fast and before we know it, the entire sky was lit up by the greatest light show on earth. The lights came in fast and furious, with portions of it dancing like electronic equalizers. I forgot the biting cold on my hands and was busy wiping off the ice that were forming on the lenses. After taking many many shots and running between cameras set up at different directions, I slowed down and took time to appreciate nature’s beauty unfolding before my eyes. It was truly a sight to behold.

I’m not sure if we are going to chase the lights tomorrow. For now, I’m going to to enjoy some nice sleep.

A Northern Lights self portrait.