Northern Lights in Tromso, Norway

My first challenging photography trip, not only did we need luck on our side to have ideal weather conditions for the northern lights, but I needed to capture great photos in the dark, with temperatures of around minus 20 degrees.

Prior to leaving, I made sure we had the right kit to partner my Sony Nex-5n (which all the below photos were shot on):

  • Lightweight travel tripod
  • 12mm wide angle lens – Zeiss Touit 2.8/12

We visited at the start of December 2013. We chose this date as December has long hours of darkness (Polar Nights, where the sun never rises above the horizon) and the solar cycle peaked in 2013 (maximising the chances of seeing a great lights show). We landed in a snow storm and our first night chasing the lights led to nothing but cloud, however, our luck changed and a couple of days later according to our guide we had the best night of season and managed to capture hundreds of photos during the 6+ hour northern lights show. Below are selection of the photos.

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