Day 8: Chasing the Aurora Lights (Sweden)

Today is totally focused on trying to see and capture the Northern Lights. As it will be a late night, we have a lazy morning and don't head out to our car until close to midday.

Our car has been sitting in the cold for more than 24 hours.

And the oil temperature seems to love sitting at -21c, despite it being slightly colder outside at -25c. The engine itself must act as an insulating layer.

With plenty of my own insulating layers when sitting into such a cold car until it has warmed up.

We carry warm blankets, hot flasks of water, sachets of drinking chocolate, snow tyres, tow ropes, snow shovels, etc, always with us in this region. We have to be prepared to survive the freezing temperatures should we have car failure or something as simple as a tyre puncture – a nightmare with centerlock wheels!

We grab some 98 octane fuel at the local Circle K – which should keep is good for the next day or two.

We don't really need such fuel – but it is the preferred octane level of the car – and here in Sweden it is slightly cheaper per litre than regular 95 octane fuel is in Ireland – so it "feels" like good value to us.

We head out to search for some potential photography locations for tonights lights.

The entire landscape around here is so epic.

Chasing the northern lights with a Swedish-made Hasselblad camera and a Germany-made Porsche 911 is such a privilege and such fun. We could do this for weeks trying to get that perfect shot – if only we had the time.

With some of the larger "Parking/Rest" spots along the remote proving to offer good potential (and also toilet facilities!).

We make sure all our camera equipment is setup correctly, batteries charged and tripods in place.

As darkness falls, we head back to Kiruna for a quick bite to eat.

Before heading back out to one of our photography locations and sit and wait.

The Northern Lights are one of nature's most breathtaking spectacles, but they operate entirely on their own terms — no forecast, tour operator, or perfectly chosen location can guarantee you'll see them.

They require the right combination of solar activity, clear skies, and darkness, and even when all conditions align, they can appear as a faint shimmer or an explosive curtain of colour with no warning either way.

Chasing the aurora is as much about embracing the uncertainty as it is about the reward — and perhaps that unpredictability is exactly what makes a sighting feel so special when it finally happens.

It is freezing cold out tonight – at least as low as -25C. Thankfully our car provides comfort and warmth.

But anytime we're outside – it is cold. Especially on our hands the need to handle our cameras.

Even with all sorts of various gloves on – it is always a tradeoff between warmth and being able to operate the cameras.

We're not waiting too long when through the trees we spot something interesting. Something, very interesting indeed.

A quick iPhone 17 snap gives us the "green" information that we needed – they are indeed out tonight.

We move to one of more remote locations, pull out our tripods and snap our first shots.

We were so used to seeing the lights much weaker than this, we actually had what turned out to be less than perfect camera settings for tonight and didn't realise it at the time.

Slightly too high an ISO level, shutter speed too slow, causing the quickly moving aurora to blur on the image making it look out of focus.

The reality is that it is so cold out – at minus 25c – that it is hard to think amongst the pressure of also capturing them for the short periods they appear. However, practice makes perfect and the only way to improve is to try, make mistakes and learn from them.

The lights were so bright tonight they actually illuminated our surroundings like the moon.

For ages, we have wanted a shot where we could get our car with the lights overhead – something that in previous years, they just were not strong enough to do so.

But tonight we got lucky.

Sometimes a slight dimming of the lights while the sky remains bathed in green hues can be more beautiful. It's less "spectacular" but more relaxing and pleasing.

This was certainly a unique and interesting way to spend 14th February – Valentines Day – together.

❤️

Stats

Today we did 301 km over 7:23 hours, with an average speed of 41 km/h, consuming 10.7 litres/100 km.