Swirling Wonder - 2/14

[Octane]

Swirling Wonder - 2/14

On my second night in Iceland (16th February, 2014), I experienced my first aurora.

First seen as a light grey cloud, almost like a contrail that had spread over the space of a few minutes, it was to reveal its glory once escaping the light-polluted clutches of the city.

On the drive to this location, I was howling with joy as I could see green and purple patches out the window start to appear, dance, fade and make way for another helping of light.

Its true majesty wasn't revealed until about 30 km south of Reykjavík, when I arrived at Kleifarvatn on the Southern Peninsula.

Stepping out of the car and seeing the intense swirling green and purple appear all over the sky for the first time, is something that I will never, ever forget. If this night couldn't get any better, I managed to witness the corona; something that occurs in strong auroral storms. Like some kind of special effect from a movie scene, the figure 8 danced playfully across the zenith as I stood there with my jaw agape, praising all that is holy for allowing me to bear witness to such a remarkable and beautiful event.

This image is less of a work of art, and, more of a snapshot in time; a reminder of where I was when I first saw those splendid colours of swirling wonder in the sky.

Higher resolution available here (http://users.tpg.com.au/hqureshi2/sw.html).

Canon EOS-5D Mark III, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
8s f/4.0 at 17.0mm iso800

Comments, critique, etc., most welcome.

Thanks for looking.

H

[CapturingTheNight]

Iceland image upload 2/365
(You can't blame me for trying....)

Another glorious "snapshot" H

Keep them coming.

[h0ughy]

my only criticism is I would have skipped the rock and got the snow and mountains and most of the aurora. sorry, that was said by the elephant in the room

[alan meehan]

Very good H looks like the show is on for you enjoy
AL

[Saturn%5]

Very nice H, Can't wait t see more from your trip.

[Larryp]

Lovely shot, H :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Magnificent H! Beautifully composed, loved the story about how it unfolded for you. What a great experience and a shot to match it.

Greg.

[dutch2]

Wow! Stunning image with a great story behind it.
:thumbsup:

[Rod771]

One's snap shot is another's masterpiece.

What a fantastic image to record and add reference to your experience.

Well done H! :thumbsup:

[batema]

Stunning. What an experience.

[Derek Klepp]

Love it.

[danielsun]

Stunning capture H though I probably would have gone more the water mountains and aurora also but nonetheless a stunning image.:thumbsup:
I have a fascination with Iceland and have been doing a bit of reading and research on it.
Sounds like it was a truly awesome experience, very lucky man. I hope to get there myself one day.

[Camelopardalis]

Beautiful! Look forward to more from his stunning landscape and evidently skyscape :)

[Antu]

Beautiful image indeed ! :thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Really beautiful H, and thanks for sharing your story behind the photo. Must have been a great experience!

[RickS]

Very cool, H! Did you see much colour visually?

[ourkind]

Congratulations H I'm so happy that you got to see the lights and capture them so wonderfully, if anyone here can do them justice it's you! Superb!

[multiweb]

mega drool... :jawdrop:
Would love to see something like that with my eyes.

[alexch]

Beautiful image, Humayun! The swirls in the Aurora work exceptionally well with the tezture in the foreground.

When I saw high geomagnetic activity a few weeks ago I thought about you in Iceland and hoped you'd have some good weather. Very glad that it all worked out so well!

Cheers,
Alex

[Astro_Bot]

I must have missed this one. That's a really nice shot. :thumbsup:

[Octane]

Greg,

Haha, cheeky. :D

Thank you. :)



David,

No problem -- I understand. It's just the landscape photographer in me who likes to try and have a foreground object of interest to lead the eye in through the frame. Just a snapshot, though, not anything fancy. :)



Alan,

Cheers, mate. It was a great trip. :)



Graeme,

Thank you. :)



Laurie,

Cheers. :)



Thanks, all.

H

[Octane]

Greg,

Thank you for the kind words; glad you liked it. :)



Ingrid,

Thank you. :)



Rod,

True, true. Thank you. :)



Mark,

Cheers! It was something!



Derek,

Thank you!



Thanks, all.

H

[Octane]

Daniel,

Thanks!

Iceland is somewhere I have wanted to go for a long, long time. Particularly when I got serious with my photography about 6 years ago. It just took that long to save up (it is horrendously expensive; doubly so in summer) and the right combination of life events to make it all happen.

I implore anyone who has the means and is able to go, to do so. It is like New Zealand, but, on steroids.



Dunk,

Thank you, sir. :)



Yuri,

Thank you!



Rolf,

Cheers, mate. It's something I will never forget. :)



Rick,

Yes, even despite the full Moon, the colour was readily visible; even from the car while driving! Then, when I got out and looked up, it was just so vivid. Argh, I want to go back!



Thanks, all.

H

[Octane]

Carlos,

Thanks, mate! Really appreciate the kind words. :)



Marc,

Cheers! :)



Alex,

Thank you, sir! It was fabulous; I saw it on 8 nights, even if there were clouds around. :)



AB,

Thank you -- appreciate it. :)



Thanks, again, all!

H