Six-Years Ago (07-February-2013) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 10: Southbound Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage.

On the second day of the southbound Hurtigruten voyage, the MS Nordkapp stoped in eight ports: Mehamn (01:00-01:15); Kjøllefjord (03:15-03:30); Honningsvåg (06:00-06:15); Havøsund (08:15-08:30); Hammerfest (11:15-12:45); Øksfjord (15:30-15:45); Skjervøy (19:00-19:45); and Tromsø (23:45-01:30).

After going in and warming up, I went out on deck again early morning hours (just after midnight). One band of the green lights went all the way from horizon to horizon over the top of the ship. I switched to a fisheye lens and went to deck 7 where I could get this image (notice the big dipper). I had all of my cold weather gear on, and it was still cold, especially since the ship was moving at 15 knots. At this point you could tell who the hard-core photographers were, as we were the only ones still out on deck.

Early Morning (00:24 AM) Northern Lights While Sailing North on the Hurtigruten MV Nordkapp. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 6400, 16 mm, f/2.8, 4 sec). (David J Mathre)

At the end of the day, I disembarked from the MS Nordkapp in Tromsø. I met up with a photographer friend from France (we both were on a photography trip with Thom Hogan in Patagonia in 2010/2011), and spent the next week in and around Tromsø “Chasing the Northern Lights”.

Six-Years Ago (05-February-2013) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 8: Northbound Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage.

On the sixth day of the northbound Hurtigruten coastal voyage, the MS Nordkapp stopped in seven ports: Øksfjord (02:00-02:15); Hammerfest (05:15-06:45); Havøsund (09:30-09:45); Honningsvåg (11:45-15:15); Kjøllefjord (17:30-17:45); Mehamn (19:30-20:00); and Berlevåg (22:30-22:45).

On the previous night, the ship went to the narrow entrance of Trollfjord and shined high-powered spot lights to show the narrow passage and high walls. In the summer the Hurtigruten ships go into Trollfjord as part of the northbound voyage. In the winter they only go to the entrance due to avalanche danger. After the ship turned the lights off, I thought that I got an image with a glimmer of green from some low northern lights. The ship staff told me that it was just a reflection on a cloud from one of the fish farms. I went out again early in the morning and got an image that does show some faint northern light activity. Later in the evening, I got some more images showing some northern light activity. Several passengers asked why my camera was able to see the northern lights as bright green where they could barely see anything with their eyes, let alone with point and shoot cameras. The tour director on the ship was not yet making a ship wide announcement that northern lights were visible since he didn’t want folks to go away and say “is that all there is?”. Before beginning this trip I debated not taking a DSLR. Now I am glad that I did. These images were taken at ISO 1600, f/1.4, and 4 seconds. I didn’t have the tripod out with me so I held the camera body against my chest. You can see some camera motion in the stars, but it is not as bad as I thought it would be. For white balance, I used 3500 °K as a starting point since that is what I use when photographing star trails.

Early Morning (04:22 AM) Glimmer of Northern Lights While Sailing North on the Hurtigruten MS Nordkapp. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 4 sec). (David J Mathre) — Early Morning (04:22 AM) Glimmer of Northern Lights While Sailing North on the Hurtigruten MS Nordkapp. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 4 sec). (David J Mathre)

Northern Lights While Sailing North on the Hurtigruten MS Nordkapp. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 4 sec). (David J Mathre) — Northern Lights While Sailing North on the Hurtigruten MS Nordkapp. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 1600, 24 mm, f/1.4, 4 sec). (David J Mathre)

Twelve-Years Ago (30-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Winter Vacation. Day 10: Hurtigruten MS Kong Harald Norwegian Coastal Voyage Southbound (Mehamn to Tromsø).

On the second day of the southbound Hurtigruten voyage, the ship stopped in eight ports: Mehamn (01:00-01:15); Kjøllefjord (03:15-03:30); Honningsvåg (06:00-06:15); Havøsund (08:15-08:30); Hammerfest (11:15-12:45); Øksfjord (15:30-15:45); Skjervøy (19:00-19:45); and Tromsø (23:45-01:30).

At about 01:00 the captain made an announcement that Northern Lights were visible. I put some warm clothes on and went out. It was cold (minus 10 degrees) and windy. But the northern lights were brighter than I ever remember seeing before when growing up in Minnesota. It was hard to stand still for 10 seconds on a moving ship in the cold and heavy wind to take a selfie. I did hear that some of the folks that got off in Kirkenes also saw the Northern Lights that night (but didn’t wake the others up…). It was because of the view that night that I decided to go back to Norway in the middle of the winter in 2013 — and saw even more impressive displays in Tromsø.

Northern Lights Self Portrait. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)

Happy Birthday Dad — From Norway.

Two days earlier the family got together to have a birthday celebration for my father before the majority of the group disembarked the Hurtigruten MS Kong Harald in Kirkenes.

Twelve-Years Ago (28-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 9: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling North.

The extended family was on a winter vacation in Norway, traveling north on the Hurtigruten ship M/S Kong Harald. This was day 6 of the voyage traveling north along the Norwegian coast. The stops on this day were in Øksfjord (02:15), Hammerfest (05:15-06:45), Havøysund (09:45) Honningsvåg (11:45-15:15), Kjøllefjord (17:45), Mehamn (20:00), and Verlevåg. During the stop in Honningsvåg we took a bus to North Cape (Nordkapp) traveling through the North Cape Tunnel. Later that night, the Captain announced that Auroras (Northern Lights) were visible.

Moon at Dawn Over Havøysund Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 85 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 200, 85 mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec). Modified using Nik Color Efex. (David J. Mathre) — Moon at Dawn Over Havøysund Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 85 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 200, 85 mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec). Modified using Nik Color Efex. (David J. Mathre)

alt_title. (David J Mathre) — Green and Red Northern Lights with the Big Dipper from the deck of the MS Kong Harald. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 12 mm, f/4, 13 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Topaz Define, and NIK Color Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)

Nine-Years Ago (01-September-2009) — Alaska

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 11: Haines, Alaska.

I completed the ferry voyage to Alaska aboard the Alaska Marine Highway ferry MV Columbia the previous afternoon. Rather than starting the drive to Anchorage right away, I checked into a local B&B and spent the night in Haines. My room on the 2nd floor looked over the harbor across to the mountains. I set up a camera to record the night sky (Nikon D3x camera and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens). When reviewing the images in the morning, found that during the night there was a display of northern lights which I had not been expecting. With faster computers and new software, I have been able to re-process the night sky star trails with the full high-resolution raw images, and create a time-lapse video. In the past I could only process the lower resolution jpg images.

Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.