The Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis
The aurora photographs from Senja in 2022 capture the raw magic of our very first encounter with the northern lights in Norway—a blend of adrenaline, cold air, and sheer disbelief. Senja’s untouched landscapes provided the perfect foreground: wide, snow-covered valleys framed by rugged coastal mountains.
Under a moonlit sky, the aurora unfolded slowly at first, faint green strokes softening the horizon, before suddenly expanding into sweeping curtains and bursts of colour. Those moments felt suspended in time—just us, the silence of winter, and the sky transforming above our heads.
Looking back, the images still carry that sense of discovery and the excitement of witnessing something we’d only ever hoped to see.
Our next Arctic adventures— our first visit to Tromsø in 2023 and the Lofoten Island in 2024 —were unforgettable in their own ways, even if the aurora didn’t make an appearance. Both trips were filled with dramatic scenery, icy roads, and that familiar sense of anticipation each night as we scanned the sky for even a hint of green.
But thick cloud cover and relentless winter weather kept the lights hidden from us. Those missed chances only added to the story, though, strengthening the determination to return and try again.
By the time we returned to the Arctic in 2025, this time around Tromsø, we understood the rhythm of chasing aurora a little better—but the display we saw there felt on an entirely different scale.
The lights arrived with intensity and movement, twisting into spirals, pillars and broad ribbons that stretched across the entire sky. The snow-covered birch forests and high plateaus outside Tromsø created a darker, more dramatic setting, letting the greens and subtle purples shine with incredible clarity.
Standing out on those frozen hills, with the stars sharp above us and the landscape glowing green, it felt like witnessing the Arctic at its absolute best. These later images show not just a stronger aurora, but also how our experience—and appreciation—had deepened over the years.
