Vanessa Haines, Summer Solstice (ENTRIES CLOSED - December theme: Your favourite shot of '25)

These photograph were taken the furthest north I have ever been. This was the Hesten trail head in Fjordgård, Norway, and at this point I had been traveling for 8 weeks across 5 countries, driven 6000km and was exhausted and so tired but this was my very last hike and an experience I was so looking forward to so having slept for 4 hours I woke up at 12am to drive an hour to then start hiking this mountain and arrive at the peak at 3am to witness the sun's maximum declination and beginning of the longest day on the other side of the world. It was a magical experience, where I FaceTimed my family all the way back home here in Australia to show them how unbelievably this experience was. That here I was at the top of a mountain at 3am and it was full daylight, it's an experience I will hold to my heart and makes it one of my favourite photos of the year

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.