Tag: Northern Lights

Gazing at the Northern Lights

YES! I saw the Northern Lights!

The first three nights I was in Reykjavik there was no tour to the Northern Lights. The two bus companies that run the pretty much identical tours decide at around 5pm each evening whether the tour should go ahead or not. They decide this based on cloud cover, weather reports, and reports on the activity of the aurora causing particles. Each evening I checked with the hostel receptionist, but no luck.

On the fourth night (30/12/11), I asked as usual, fully expecting the answer to be no as there was pretty heavy cloud cover. But the answer was yes. I was a bit sceptical, but the receptionist showed me the cloud cover report on the internet and it was clear to see that from 11pm onwards the cloud was really expected to clear over the Reykjanes Peninsula.

I booked the tour with Reykjavik Excursions as their tour started half an hour later than the one with Iceland Excursions and there didn’t seem any point in hanging around for an extra half hour when it would be too early to see the lights anyway. The tour was 4,900 kronur or about £28.

I got all wrapped up in my layers of thermals and fleeces, made a flask of hot chocolate and packed my tripod. The bus picked me up outside the hostel and then went round a few other hotels and the BSI bus station collecting more people.

Once everyone was on board we headed out on the airport road to the Reykjanes Peninsula. Once we were out of the Reykjavik we began to see the moon and then stars. A good sign as it meant the cloud was clearing. We stopped in a couple of dark places, but had no luck with the lights. We then drove to the end of the peninsula, by the sea and near a small village and a lighthouse. There was quite a big area for parking here and other buses were already parked up, with others arriving after us. Everyone got off the bus and gazed at the sky. There was nothing to see. As it was cold I thought I might as well as wait back on the bus until something happened. I didn’t want the lights to finally appear just as I reached the point of no return with hypothermia and frostbite.

I hadn’t been on the bus for long when I noticed everyone pointing and looking at the same section of sky. I got back off the bus and with difficulty could just make out a patch of sky that was slightly lighter in colour. It could easily have been light from the moon, but the driver assured us it was the beginning of an aurora.

As we watched it began to turn green and spread across the sky. Not the whole sky, just a stripe from horizon to horizon. It would widen and darken, and then fade again. Sometimes fading completely in the middle. It was paler than I imagined it to be, yet on the photos people were taking it looked just as deeply coloured as the photos in magazines and tourist brochures. Maybe the cameras just pick up more light or something.

We watched it for about an hour until it pretty much faded completely. It did do a bit of swirling but mainly stayed as a stripe. So it wasn’t as impressive as I was expecting, but was still pretty cool. I’m glad I’ve seen it anyway and feel quite privileged as I know this is something lots of people dream of seeing for themselves.

As for my photos? They didn’t come out at all. My amazing new camera which has been so good at taking photos so far, including in low light, just wouldn’t pick the aurora up on ‘auto’. I switched to manual but couldn’t get anything to work properly as I couldn’t see the buttons in the dark and I’m not familiar enough with this camera to do everything by feel alone.

Once I realised I wasn’t going to get any good photos I lent my tripod to a couple of South Africans who were sat in front of me on the bus. They got some really good photos which they have said they will email to me. I really hope they do. I don’t know when they’ll be going home to do this, so I may have to wait a while. But whenever it is, I just hope they don’t forget me or lose my email address!

I’m home

I’ve just got back from Iceland and I already have a huge to-do list.

I got home from Iceland this morning. It’s been a really long day as I had to get up at 3.30am for my flight. I have so many different things I want to blog about I don’t know where to start. It’s going to take a while for me to get everything out of my head and on to my computer. I met some amazing people, heard some amazing stories and saw the Northern Lights. Amazing.

I’ve been practising with my new camera and been taking loads of photos every day. I still have to take one for today to keep up with 2012 task of taking at least one photo every day. I ordered a video camera before I went away and it has arrived. I haven’t opened it yet, but learning how to use it will go towards my other 2012 task of learning how to use three new pieces of technology or software.

Over the coming week I need to book the floatation tank for half term and enrol on a writing course. I also need to sort out insurance for the two houses I currently own (my goal is five); sort out some repairs in the house I rent out; put together a fitness programme; return my new backpack as it’s already got a seam coming loose; get to Martin Mere to take a photo that will win me a trip to Antarctica; remember to take a photo each day; download (and upload) all my photos; try to get out on at least one walk; and get my blog updated. I don’t really have time to go back to school on Monday!

Iceland

I’m loving watching the sunrise whilst swimming in steam and snow.

I love my snowboots. My feet have so been so warm and dry in all this snow. the only problem with them is when I sink deeper than my knees. Would it have been possible to get thigh-high snowboots?

I love my new camera too. It takes amazing pictures and makes it all so easy. Even in the dark (which it is most of the time here) I don’t need a tripod – it just focuses and then remembers what the image looks like whilst it does the long exposure thing. So I’m not getting any blurry photos. Wowee.

I haven’t seen the Northern Lights yet, as each evening so far the trip out of the city to see them has been cancelled. It only runs when there’s a good chance of seeing them. But I have plenty of time left yet.

What have I done so far? Well, yesterday morning I went outdoor swimming in the pool next to the hostel. I started by sitting in the first hot pot I came to as my bare feet were freezing fast as I walked over the icy ground the 2 metres to the pool. It was so warm. There was even a floating chess set bobbing about on it, so I suppose people really do spend hours in them.

I stayed in this hot pot until it was infiltrated by young children having a snowball fight. The Icelandic version of water polo perhaps? Then I switched to the main swimming pool which was cooler, but still a good temperature. I couldn’t see how big the pool was because it was dark and the rising steam made it really misty. So visibility was down to about zero. I kept swimming round corners and bends and discovering more and more pool. Or maybe I was just swimming in tight circles and thought I was discovering new bits. At one point I swam under a bridge and discovered an elderly people’s exercise class going on in one of the lanes.

Once I’d had enough of swimming I sat in a different hot pot – one with bends, corners and alcoves and watched the sun beginning to rise through the fir trees. It got slightly above the horizon which is about the best to be hoped for at this time of year. It gets light around 11am and is dark again well before 5pm.

Í’ve also been drinking lots of good coffee whilst I’ve been here. I think Icelandic coffee is second only to Dutch coffee. It’s dark and strong and doesn’t come in a bucket. Last time I was here I discovered a new little coffee shop called Cafe Haiti. It’s run by a woman who is one of only two Haitians in Iceland. She imports the coffee from Haiti and roasts it herself. When I got home I wrote a review of it on Trip Advisor. The first day I was here I saw an advert for Cafe Haiti in one of the free tourist papers. It was quoting a customer who said they’d gone to Cafe Haiti because of a review they’d read on Trip Advisor and it really was as good as the review said. I’ve since seen the same ad in several other places. As far as I’m aware I’m the only person who’s written a review on Trip Advisor so I must be the reviewer the advert is referring to. Does this make me famous? Or at least semi-famous? Even though no-one knows who I am. I’m glad my review (if it is mine – I will have to check when I’m not paying for internet) has done her some good. I’ve been back today and she is now in bigger premises.

The sun’s got spots!

Why this is a particularly good time to see the Northern Lights.

I’ve been reading up on the Northern Lights and this is a really good time to go to see them. The sun operates in a 12 year cycle and every 12th year it gets spots. These sunspots are visible without a telescope (though eclipse type glasses are recommended to avoid damaging your eyes) and are caused by particles being expelled from the sun. It’s particles from the sun that cause the effects seen as the Northern Lights. The particles are dragged towards the two magnetic poles and then swirl around in the atmosphere causing the multi-coloured lightshow effect. The closer to the poles you are the more strobe like are the lights. In Scotland, on the odd occasion that they are seen, they tend to appear only as a pale swathe of colour on the horizon. Green and red coloured lights are caused by oxygen particles and the less common blue lights are caused by nitrogen.

Not only is sun at the height of its 12 year expulsion cycle, but some experts reckon it is the most active its been for 50 years. So with all these extra particles floating about surely I’ve got to see them! 

RAW or JPEG

Should I stick to JPEG when photographing the Northern Lights or dare I use RAW?

I usually use JPEG when I take photographs. It’s not something I’ve thought about, it’s just what my camera does and sites like blogger and facebook like it. But the research I’ve done so far on photographing the Northern Lights seems fairly consistent in telling me to use RAW. The memory card I’ve ordered can do this, so I do have the option. My conundrum is whether or not I’ll know what to do with it once I’ve taken the photographs. I don’t want to have amazing photographs and not be able to download them to any websites or even worse, be able to get them off my camera and onto my laptop.

I’ll have to try to speak to someone in the photography department at school and get some advice.

Photography

Learning how to photograph the Northern Lights.

Now I’m thinking about how I’m going to photograph that amazing view I’m soon to have of the Northern Lights, lava, bonfires and fireworks. Yes, all at the same time. I’ve requested it.

After looking at a few websites for tips on photographing the Aurora Borealis (to give it its proper name) I’ve realised that my snappy camera probably isn’t going to be up to the job. So I’ve just ordered myself a DSLR. I didn’t want a full-blown SLR as I know I’d get too confused by it and I can’t afford one anyway. So I’ve got a combi type that has got really good reviews. It should arrive by the end of next week, so then I need to get out and about practising with it and learning how to be a good night photographer. All in the next few weeks.

I’ve also ordered an ‘extreme’ memory card. Apparently memory cards can give up when the temperature gets too hot or too cold. The extreme cards are meant to cope with extreme lows and highs. The temperature in Reykjavik should be hovering around 0 when I’m there, but it has been known to get down to -17, so I want to be prepared.

I need to get a spare battery too, for the same reason. Then I can keep one next to my body and keep swapping them over. And a tripod. I’ve been researching tripods, but I’m not too sure which one yet. I want something light to carry but it has to be strong enough to stand steady in big winds. Iceland can be VERY windy. The other thing is a coat. I have my waterproof which I use for walking, but I’m not sure if this will be warm enough. I can layer up underneath it, but I can only fit so many layers. I had a look a down jackets which seem really snug, but they’re not particularly waterproof. At least not waterproof for the full-on sideways blasting rain that Iceland will throw at me. So I’ll have to ponder a bit more on that one.

I found this blog with some really good advice on how to photography the Northern Lights.

Northern Lights

I’ve got 11 chances to see the Northern Lights.

I’m feeling excited. I’ve just booked a trip to Iceland over New Year. I normally feel as though I can’t do much over Christmas as Christmas Day is usually in the middle of my time off school and I often have family staying with me. But this year I break up right before Christmas and so don’t have to be back at school until the 9th January. And I don’t have family staying. It’s far too good an opportunity to miss and the obvious thing to do with a holiday at this time of year is to try to see the Northern Lights. I’ve been to Iceland before and I love it there. I’ve only been in summer when the daylight seemed never ending, so it will be interesting to be there in the heart of winter when there’s very little daylight.

I’m staying in two different youth hostels in the city as I was only allowed to book a maximum of 7 nights at either one. I’ve found a tour company that does tours each evening hunting for the Northern Lights. They check the weather maps and go to where ever the best chance of seeing of the lights is. If the weather doesn’t look good they’ll cancel the tour and reschedule for the next night. If we do go out and don’t see the lights we can go on the tour the next night free of charge.

As I’ll have 11 nights there, surely I’ll get to see them??? I can’t have all those chances and still miss out. And if I’m really lucky maybe one of the volcanoes will erupt again and I’ll get to tick lava of my list as well. Oh to get one of those iconic photos of lava spewing in front of a background of aurora borealis …

Summer Ice Hotel

The Ice Hotel is going to open in the summer … but it won’t be the same at all.

I’ve just read that the Ice Hotel in Sweden is going to be open in the summer. Usually this is a winter experience only as it melts each spring and has to be rebuilt the following year. Now a smaller version is to be built inside an art centre so visitors can stay in the summer and experience the midnight sun. No chance of seeing the Northern Lights though. And I don’t think I particularly want to stay inside an ice hotel inside another building. It just wouldn’t be the same at all.