Far & Wise

The Zen of Norway’s Northern Lights

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I’m back in San Francisco after a fun-filled, cold trip to Scandinavia. I had grand hopes of writing while I was traveling, but there always seemed to be too many things to do, and too little time in which to do them. So I’m working on a few new posts which will be coming soon!

Until then, I thought I’d share this great video of the Northern Lights called  Polar Spirits, by Ole C. Salomonsen.

According to the notes, most of the sequences were shot in northern Norway, close to the city of Tromsø, which is often referred to as “the northern lights city.” Here’s a map showing Tromsø, to give you a sense of just how far north it is.

Some of my favorite sequences are the shots of the the northern lights seen over the city.

This year the coast of northern Norway was overwhelmed with humpback whales, which are absolutely magnificent and beautiful creatures. While watching the auroras and shooting the opening sequence of this video I could hear the whales breaching and blowing air in the fjord. It was an absolutely magic experience. Sadly the whales never came close enough to do a really good shot of the whales under the auroras, but If you watch closely on the opening sequence you can actually see the whales breaching a few times a bit out in the fjord.

— Quoted from Ole C. Salomonsen

I didn’t spot any of the the whales breaching during the opening scenes, but I loved the video and the music! Here’s a shot of the photographer and his setup while capturing the Milky Way sequence.

So what did you think? Isn’t it peaceful? Is seeing the Northern Lights on your bucket list?

Other Posts From Scandinavia

Here are all the posts from my recent trip:

For more from Salomonsen, see his previous two videos Celestials Lights and In The Land of the Northern Lights. Photo by Tromsø kommune.