Behind the Photo: Best of 2016 - Dreams

Finally!  We are stepping away from Chamonix and back to Iceland.  

Our first night outside of Reykjavik we stayed near Seljalandsfoss.  Earlier in the evening I had been walking around behind Seljalandsfoss and then went into Gljúfrabúi.  Gljúfrabúi is a waterfall in a very tight canyon that creates a ton of spray - I was back there for about 5 minutes and came out drenched.  I was cold and wet and needed to get into dry, warm clothes.

I changed and then headed into the community building at the campground we were staying at.  We ate some dinner, I charged up my camera batteries and started editing some photos.  I spent about two hours in the community room and then headed out to the car to pack my stuff away and head to be shortly after.  

While I was walking to the car I noticed that there were quite a few people standing around; I didn't really know why either.  I put my stuff away and was heading back to the community building - I couldn't figure out what people were doing, so I decided to stop and looking around to hopefully find out what was going on.  Well I looked up and the sky was dancing - ribbons of green lighting up the night sky.  It was amazing! 

I went back to the car, grabbed my camera and tripod and walked out to the middle of the road.  The road rarely sees any traffic, so I setup in the middle and started taking photos.  Now, photographing the Northern Lights is a bit tricky, I think at least.  I've taken photos of the stars more than enough that I know how to set my camera, but the Northern Lights require different settings since they are constantly changing.  This particular shot was even more difficult since I wanted to the Milky Way, which requires a very bright exposure, but also has the Northern Lights which require a darker exposure to not over expose them.  If I'm being honest, I wish I had gotten better photos of the lights.

I spent close to three hours outside that night.  Mesmerized, I found it difficult to pack up and get some sleep, despite the fact that I was completely exhausted.  This was definitely a night to remember.

 
 
Dreams

Dreams

TJ SimonComment