Northern Lights

When folks heard we were going to Iceland, invariably the first question was "Why Iceland?"  One of our main reasons for coming was a chance to see the Northern Lights.  Now I realize there are other places you can go to see the lights, but we've heard cool things about Iceland and wanted to come visit anyway.  The fact that Icelandair put together a great package billed as a Northern Lights trip had us packing our bags.  Because seeing the lights is so weather dependent, we weren't certain that we would even get to see them during the trip.

Our Northern Lights tour started on Monday night at 10:00 PM.  About 25 hardy souls boarded a bus to drive out into the countryside away from the lights of Akureyri to try and get a glimpse.  Cold weather and clear skies are required, but needed most of all is luck.  In short, we didn't have any and spent a lot of time driving and then standing around outside in the cold.  We were disappointed, but they did give us a voucher to try again on Tuesday since we were still in town.

We repeated the same drill the next night with the same tour guide, but this time drove in a different direction outside of town.  Even as we were driving out of town with Akureyri still in our sights, we could see an unmistakable green hue streaking across the sky.  Everyone was excited and we raced off the bus once the driver stopped to gaze up at the stars.  As I'm working to get my camera ready, what should happen but one of the legs on my tripod broke.  Although I'm still very much an amateur at night-photography, I do know that a tripod is essential and you're not going to get very good shots without one.  I totally missed the opportunity as the lights dissipated and it was back on the bus in search of them again.

The only way I was going to get any pictures was to use the tripod on it's lowest setting without the legs extended, and rotate the camera upwards.  All we could do is hope the lights would reappear.  We traveled over the mountain from Akureyri and promptly drove into a fog bank.  Our guide seemed just as disappointed as we were even though he sees the lights all the time.

Finally, as we were driving back to Akureyri the sky began to light up.  We bounded off the bus into the snow to catch the lights.  I set up my camera and tripod low on the ground and began taking long exposure shots of the sky.  I experimented with leaving the shutter open for various lengths of time.  A lot of folks were using their flash which was of absolutely no benefit to them but detrimental to me.  In addition, the occasional car headlights would come down the road and mess me up.  I did end up with a few good pictures.

Seeing the Northern Lights was spectacular.  Although it's never the same each time they appear, we were treated to the lights dancing through the sky.  They would almost fade away and then come back even stronger.  At one point, it seemed as though the lights stretched from one end of the horizon to the other as far as the eye could see.  But they can disappear just as fast as they appear.  After last night's experience of not seeing the lights, we recognize how lucky we were to experience Mother Nature at her finest.