This compilation is always published in December to coincide with the Northern Lights season in the Northern Hemisphere and the end of year, and it is aimed at inspiring and sharing the beauty of this natural phenomenon.
This year’s list includes images that were taken around the world, in countries like the United States, Russia, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica, by 25 photographers of 18 different nationalities. The competiton is also open to images of the Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis.
“The Hunt’s Reward” – Ben Maze
This year, Sydney-based photographer Ben Maze was named as one of the finalists, with his image 'The Hunt's Reward', captured in Tasmania.
"Captured in this image is a trifecta of astronomical phenomena that made for some of the best astrophotography conditions one can witness in Australia, namely, the setting Milky Way galactic core, zodiacal light, and of course, the elusive Aurora Australis," he writes.
"On top of this, a sparkling display of oceanic bioluminescence adorned the crashing waves, adding the cherry on top to what was already a breathtaking experience."
Joining Ben in the shortlist was Australian photographer and AP contributor Will Patino. You can see Will's shot on the Capture the Atlas website.
The quality of the image, the story behind the shot, and the overall inspiration that the photograph can provide are the main factors for selecting the images every year.
“Antarctic Night” – Benjamin Eberhardt (Edit by Martin Heck). This image shows a strong and colorful aurora over the IceCube Neutrino observatory in the South Pole and is part of a longer time-lapse series. The South Pole is probably one of the most remote and challenging environments to do photography, and it is strenuous for both humans and technology. To achieve 24h-long time-lapse shots, you need some creativity to heat and insulate your equipment in order to keep it running, and even rotating, in temperatures ranging down to -80ºC (-112 ºF). In my case, this was a learning curve over multiple months, with a lot of trial and error and frostbite. On the upside, once you have tackled all the challenges, you have plenty of reasons to be proud of your shots.
The Northern Lights season ranges from September to April in the Northern Hemisphere and from March to September in the Southern Hemisphere. The best time to see and photograph the Lights is during the fall and spring equinoxes because of the orientation of Earth’s axis.
Besides the timing, the other requirement for seeing the Northern Lights is a dark sky that is far away from light pollution. However, big displays of Northern Lights can be visible to the naked eye, even from light-polluted areas like cities.
“Lofoten ice lights” -Dennis Hellwig. These beautiful icicles were created by thawed ice that froze over. I noticed this place during the day, and when the Northern Lights were visible, I returned to photograph it. This place was very difficult to get to. It was narrow and there was ice and snow over the icicles. I was able to stand through a hole in the stream and use the tripod to bring my camera close to the icicles. It was so tight that it was almost impossible to work with a tripod. I also had to make sure that my tripod legs didn’t break the ice.
Dan Zafra, editor of Capture the Atlas, curates these photos throughout the year. He looks not only for images taken by some of the world's most renowned photographers, but also for new talents and for new locations where the Northern Lights haven’t been photographed before, such as the Antarctica image at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in this year’s edition.
“Lights in the land of living skies” – Jeanine Holowatuik. I captured this image during a surprise aurora storm that came out of nowhere near the end of May in the boreal forest of Saskatchewan, Canada. The moon was illuminating the clouds and the Northern Lights reached overhead. It was a magical moment! The show was strong, and the lights were visible in every direction at its peak, which doesn’t happen often at my latitude. I was able to stay close to home, watching in amazement as the lights reached further south. It was a warm spring evening and I captured the Lights dancing right until the morning light, a night I’ll never forget!
Capture the Atlas is a travel and photography blog that helps others plan their trips and improve their photography. Their main focus is landscape and night astrophotography, and their articles include photography guides, tutorials, and inspiration.
“Symphony of the lights” – Iurie Belegurschi. My plan for the night was to photograph the Northern Lights at Thingvellir National Park, Iceland. The day before the chase, there was a blizzard and the roads were full of snow. After waiting 4 hours for the Aurora to show up with no luck, I decided to drive home. My car got stuck in the snow and, when I was waiting for help, the Northern Lights finally showed up and “danced” for about ten minutes. I was lucky to get stuck next to this pond and take this shot with the Aurora reflected on the water.“Over the Lofoten Mountains” – José Antonio Mateos Fajardo. March 1st, 2020, 11:30 pm in the Lofoten Islands, Norway. I don’t know if it was -10ºC or -12ºC, but I couldn’t have been more excited about the chance to see and photograph those magic green lights that show up at northern latitudes. The night before, there was a great snowfall, so going off-road meant getting chest-deep in the snow. There was no other choice but to set the tripod in the road. At first, the Aurora seemed like a faint cloud changing its colors from yellow to lime. I used the moon to focus and I could see how my camera was picking up the first colors in my LCD screen.“Pictured Rocks Magic” – MaryBeth Kiczenski. Unpredictable. Wild. Mesmerizing. The Aurora speaks to a certain area of your soul: the part that transcends everyday life, and enters into the almost supernatural. This is the draw to chasing the Aurora. It’s a feeling I have trouble putting into words. To get the most from this opportunity, I took a combination of shots; a 2-min exposure of the foreground and a 15-second exposure of the sky. This way, you can see more detail in the foreground while retaining the detail in the Northern Lights.“Spring fireworks” – Ole Salomonsen. This image was captured on April 10th 2019, at the very end of the aurora season in the Arctic. Most photographers had given up on the auroras by that date, but I didn’t want to surrender just yet. I have been chasing the Northern Lights for 10+ years now, and I know that they are quite unpredictable. However, some of my best Aurora captures have indeed resulted from unexpected events or uncertain forecasts. That night was one of those when the forecast was uncertain, but I decided to go out to this fantastic location called “Ersfjordbotn”, which is a 20-min drive from the City of Tromsø, and I was so glad that I did it. A magnificent display took place over my head after one hour of waiting. I shot many different images, but this one stretching all over the sky with me standing on the rock in the foreground shows very well how amazing and large the auroras can be.“Ghosts of the fell” – Petri Puurunen. The weather forecast promised clear skies and refreshing -24ºC temperatures, so what could be a better way to spend a night like that than hiking up to the Fells and photographing trees covered with hard-packed snow? These snowy candle spruces can be up to 10 meters high and, with the snowy coat, weigh several tons. The half-moon was illuminating the scenery, so the conditions were nearly perfect. While wandering around the area and searching for compositions, the Auroras were slowly climbing up to the sky, fading away just ten minutes later. I managed to get a couple of decent photos.“Dragon Eggs” – Roksolyana Hilevych. I found this unknown place on the Lofoten Islands as I was moving around the Gimsoya Islands. That night was very cold, with temperatures reaching -20º C. It was probably one of the best shows of watching and photographing the Northern Lights I’ve ever experienced, because in a place like this, it’s not easy to find something new with such a magical foreground and the kp5/kp6 Northern Lights dancing all night long. For this shot, I did a focus-stacking of three shots, two for the foreground at f/8, 10s, ISO 400 and one for the sky at f/4, 2s and ISO 640.
