There are a few things I have an infatuation with. One is ruins. Another is history. I've wanted to go to Egypt since I was a kid.
Another infatuation I have is with nature. Even though I live in a busy area like the San Francisco Bay Area, I love nature. I watched too much Bob Ross I guess because I see the inherent beauty of being outside. Especially when you're all by yourself in the middle of nowhere. Don't even dare to bring a cell phone to a glacier because if it rings, I'm likely to throw it into a bottomless fissure.
Iceland has proved to have all of the natural beauty I expected. Plus the ability to appreciate it. Want to walk behind a waterfall? Go for it. Want to swim in a natural thermal lagoon? By all means. One thing that I have desperately wanted to see for many years is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. I'm no scientist so all I know is it has to do with magnetic particles reacting to the Earth's atmosphere. Like I said, I'm no scientist. We got back from our Golden Grand Slam tour around 6:45pm. That left me 1 hour to scarf down a Subway sandwich, repack my backpack with my camera gear, and put on a few extra layers. Then we got picked up and drove a good 2 hours back into Pingvellir National Park. We sat around for a few hours waiting for it to get completely dark (around 10:30pm) and for the scattered clouds to disperse. We changed locations a few times as well. It was looking like a wild goose chase when around 11pm, our guide pointed off to the distance and said that he thought he could see it moving. None of us were really sure what we were looking at so we took a few pictures to check and this is what came up.
A few things to note about trying to see the Aurora Borealis. The main one is they are a natural phenomenon. You need a perfect combination of elements to see them and even more to take good photos of them.
1) A clear to mostly clear night sky (some clouds create cool effects)
2) Complete darkness. We drove out 2 hours from Reykjavic and still picked up ambient light. It's the orange glow in the photos. It looks cool but really isn't supposed to be there.
3) A tripod. This is a must. Even a Joby would do but something to keep your camera from moving.
4) A DSLR is best but a camera with adjustable shutter settings. You need to keep the shutter open as long as possible to get the best effects. With a DSLR you can set the shutter and aperture settings to let in the right amount of light.
5) A wide-angle or fisheye lens works best since it captures a much larger area of the sky.
I also discovered Iceland is NOT a good place to view the Aurora Borealis. It's an island in the North Atlantic. The weather changes by the hour. The best places to view are northern Scandinavia (Finland and Sweden) and even northern Alaska.
I've gone out to look for them every night and I've only seen them twice. But once you see them, you become obsessed wanting to go out again and again to see them one more time. They are quite hypnotic to watch, albeit a little underwhelming. On partly cloudy nights, it's quite difficult to tell the difference between them and clouds. You just have to set up your camera, take the picture, and see what comes out. Once you distinguish them, then you can sit back and enjoy the show!
What's even more incredible is I saw and did so much on my first full day with 10 more days go go!
Another infatuation I have is with nature. Even though I live in a busy area like the San Francisco Bay Area, I love nature. I watched too much Bob Ross I guess because I see the inherent beauty of being outside. Especially when you're all by yourself in the middle of nowhere. Don't even dare to bring a cell phone to a glacier because if it rings, I'm likely to throw it into a bottomless fissure.
Iceland has proved to have all of the natural beauty I expected. Plus the ability to appreciate it. Want to walk behind a waterfall? Go for it. Want to swim in a natural thermal lagoon? By all means. One thing that I have desperately wanted to see for many years is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. I'm no scientist so all I know is it has to do with magnetic particles reacting to the Earth's atmosphere. Like I said, I'm no scientist. We got back from our Golden Grand Slam tour around 6:45pm. That left me 1 hour to scarf down a Subway sandwich, repack my backpack with my camera gear, and put on a few extra layers. Then we got picked up and drove a good 2 hours back into Pingvellir National Park. We sat around for a few hours waiting for it to get completely dark (around 10:30pm) and for the scattered clouds to disperse. We changed locations a few times as well. It was looking like a wild goose chase when around 11pm, our guide pointed off to the distance and said that he thought he could see it moving. None of us were really sure what we were looking at so we took a few pictures to check and this is what came up.
A few things to note about trying to see the Aurora Borealis. The main one is they are a natural phenomenon. You need a perfect combination of elements to see them and even more to take good photos of them.
1) A clear to mostly clear night sky (some clouds create cool effects)
2) Complete darkness. We drove out 2 hours from Reykjavic and still picked up ambient light. It's the orange glow in the photos. It looks cool but really isn't supposed to be there.
3) A tripod. This is a must. Even a Joby would do but something to keep your camera from moving.
4) A DSLR is best but a camera with adjustable shutter settings. You need to keep the shutter open as long as possible to get the best effects. With a DSLR you can set the shutter and aperture settings to let in the right amount of light.
5) A wide-angle or fisheye lens works best since it captures a much larger area of the sky.
I also discovered Iceland is NOT a good place to view the Aurora Borealis. It's an island in the North Atlantic. The weather changes by the hour. The best places to view are northern Scandinavia (Finland and Sweden) and even northern Alaska.
I've gone out to look for them every night and I've only seen them twice. But once you see them, you become obsessed wanting to go out again and again to see them one more time. They are quite hypnotic to watch, albeit a little underwhelming. On partly cloudy nights, it's quite difficult to tell the difference between them and clouds. You just have to set up your camera, take the picture, and see what comes out. Once you distinguish them, then you can sit back and enjoy the show!
What's even more incredible is I saw and did so much on my first full day with 10 more days go go!
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