Norðurljósunum - Northern lights in Icelandic.

I don't intend to blog every day, rather about once a week, or when there is something interesting to tell you about.

So what have we here? Norðurljósunum or Northern lights.

Last Monday night (27th March 2017) the forecast for the cloud cover over Reykjavík was clear, and the forecast for the Northern lights activity was very high. All of this information regarding the weather and the Northern lights activity can be found on the Icelandic Vedur site.

So, as you can imagine, I was eager to see this natural phenomenon, especially as I have never seen it before. Shock! Horror!

I packed up my trusty Canon 5D MKIII, a tripod, remote shutter and a series of lenses and then drove out to þingvellir national park. The park is approximately forty five minutes drive north east from Reykjavík, and is the easiest way to see the Northern lights. The Aurora can be seen from Reykjavík on a really good night, but getting away from bright city lights will improve the chances of seeing them in all their glory.

I arrived at the car park close to the Öxarárfoss (Öxarár is a name of a river and foss is Icelandic for waterfall) and settled into watch the lights.

It was amazing to say the least! At one point it felt like I could actually reach up and touch the eerie green glow of the Northern lights, as they seemed to descend right down on top of me.

Northern lights. March 2017(Click the image and it will become full screen) — Northern lights. March 2017
(Click the image and it will become full screen)

I had not planned an ideal location to take pictures, so I will have to go out again with a little more planning, but I did capture a few good pictures from just standing in a car park with my tripod and camera.

Dancing Northern lights. March 2017(Click the image and it will become full screen) — Dancing Northern lights. March 2017
(Click the image and it will become full screen)

In the future, I will have to try and hike into the back country with a tent and stay overnight to get some better pictures. This will require the right conditions, with clear skies and a high activity Aurora...this could be very soon. Fingers crossed.

I hope you enjoy these pictures and the latest picture on my website. Feel free to leave any comments below and share this page.

Thanks,

Kev

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