I for one have never witnessed the northern lights in person, and like many people I experience them vicariously through the photography and videos of more well-traveled (or more polar-bound) individuals. Typically these are either single-shot photos or time-lapses made up of many somewhat long-exposure images. As beautiful as these are, they don’t accurately capture the true motion of this upper atmospheric phenomenon. But here we get a look at the aurora as it looks in real time, captured on camera by Jon Kerr from northern Finland. Check it out above or watch in full screen HD on YouTube.
The video was shot with a full-frame mirrorless Sony a7S. See more of Jon’s aurora videos on YouTube here.
Aurorae were once believed to be warring clans of spirit soldiers, the skyward ghosts of virgin women, or the glow of fires burning inside celestial caves. Today we know they’re caused by ions in the atmosphere getting zapped by charged solar particles caught up in Earth’s magnetic field. But the knowledge of what creates aurorae doesn’t make their shimmering dance any less beautiful for those lucky enough to see them. I’ve personally never witnessed an aurora, but photographer Ole Salomonsen has — and he’s created yet another gorgeous time-lapse of the northern lights over his native Scandinavia to share their beauty with the world.
Painstakingly assembled from over 150,000 digital photos taken over the course of eight months, this stunning time-lapse video of aurora-filled Arctic skies is the latest creation by photo/video artist Ole C. Salomonsen. Take a moment, turn up the sound, sit back and enjoy the show!
This is Ole’s second video project. The footage was shot on location in parts of Norway, Finland and Sweden from September 2011 to April 2012, and shows the glorious effects that the Sun’s increasing activity has had on our planet’s upper atmosphere.
The video is a merge of two parts; the first part contains some more wild and aggressive auroras, as well as a few Milky Way sequences, hence either auroras are moving fast because they are or they are fast due to motion of the Milky Way / stars. Still, some of the straight-up shots are very close to real-time speed — although auroras mostly are slower, she can also be FAST!
The second part has some more slow and majestic auroras, where I have focused more on composition and foreground. The music should give you a clear indication of where you are.
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The music was provided by Norwegian composer Kai-Anders Ryan.
Ole’s “hectic” aurora season is coming to a close now that the Sun is rising above the horizon in the Arctic Circle, and he figured that it was a good time to release the video. It will also be available on 4K Digital Cinema on request.
“Hope you like the video, and that you by watching it are able to understand my fascination and awe for this beautiful celestial phenomenon,” says Ole.
An auroral display sparked by the Sun’s recent outbursts was captured by photographer Antti Pietikäinen in the sky over Muonio, Finland, on March 11, 2012. Watch this short but oh-so-sweet video and wish you were there!
"Forest Storm" by Ole Salomonsen (arcticlightphoto.no)
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Photographer Ole Christian Salomonsen is a master at capturing the northern lights in all their glory… as this image once again shows.
Ole describes the story behind this photo:
“Shot at the end of a ‘weak’ aurora night in Muonio, Finland. Took this at outside the cabin I was staying at close to Harriniva. The outburst came from an CME that first started disappointingly weak. I was about to go to bed but thought I should wait just a little more and see. Man am I glad I waited!!”
Man, are we glad too! Thanks for sharing these amazing views with us Ole, and keep up the great (and chilly) work!
