I love it when the temperature creeps down...way down. When the landscape is covered in heavy snow and the trees bow to this white blanket. Thats the best time to shoot the aurora! Last week the conditions were perfect so i (as usual) had the crazy idea to visit a slowflowing creek equipped with my dear waders. Now, my waders are lightweight gore-tex waders that are really handy for 99% of the time, but they arent exactly warm... So i wore my superthick insulated down-pants and squeezed my ass into the waders. I felt like a sumo-wrestler... This particular river is difficult to walk along in summer because its surrounded by trillions of bushes. Its like a freakin jungle! In winter...oh my god! It took sumo-me forever to get to the river climbing over, creeping under branches and what not.
When i got to the river bed i plumped into it just to escape the wacky bushes. The rest of the evening i decided i would not get up until strictly needed. Its much faster to just wade the distances should i need to move. The aurora starts dancing...i snap like crazy. The wacky bushes compliments the scene, making it a surreal winter wonderland. Then the action moved and i had to start wading. My god..i waded forever. Then i got to a good spot where the aurora was dancing hypnotically above me. I was immersed in the moment and worked the scene like a madman. I was so focused i didnt notice that the camera was getting higher and higher for every other second. For a second i said to myself, WTF am i shrinking? Am i turning into a sumo midget? Then i decided i had to move cause the aurora was changing again. Then the truth hits me...im freakin stuck! Im held hostage by some kind of quicksand. What the shit? I panicked and for a moment i pictured myself being swallowed by the river. All anyone would find was a camera on a tripod in the middle of the river. Then i decided to try to make delicate moves to maybe get out of there. Like making love to a Barry White tune... I got one foot loose. Phew! The other was still completely stuck almost up to my knee. I started to freak out... but suddenly my foot was loose! My wading shoe was still down there but i couldnt care less!
I hurried over to the river bed and climbed back on land. Now things just got weird. I had been in the river for over more than 2 hours and it was - 15 degrees. It took exactly 2 seconds for my wet gore-tex waders to freeze. It froze instantly! So now i was a sumo statue. My car was parked a kilometer away and i had to waggle my way over there... What a sight...what a night!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
If you wanna capture something similar, without being stuck in a river, please visit
www.lofotentours.com
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Tour dates / LofotenTours
09/1 - 16/1 - Whispers Of Arctic Winter with Felix Inden Photography
31/1 - 08/2 - Stetind & Lofoten Adventure SOLD OUT
20/2 - 02/3 - Exclusive Series - Lofoten & Senja with Magic Hour Travelscapes
13/3 - 23/3 - Exclusive Series - Lofoten & Senja with Ryan Dyar Photography
28/6 - 05/7 - Lofoten in Midnight with Iurie Belegurschi Photography
28/7 - 02/8 - Hiking Expedition with Max Rive
09/9 - 16/9 - Autumn & Aurora Borealis in Lofoten with Rod Thomas Photography
Epic tour on Iceland:
9/6 - 18/6 - Midnight Sun Adventure
