Epic Aurora Borealis Over Greenland And Iceland

I recently traveled to Greenland and Iceland to shoot the arctic Aurora, and my new video “Two Lands – Greenland | Iceland” is the result.

The aurora borealis follows an 11 year cycle where aurora activity is at its maximum on the 11th year. I shot this video during the 11th year of the cycle. The aurora is a very dynamic thing, and I feel that still images just don’t do it justice. I decided I wanted to shoot the aurora using timelapse photography to show people how the aurora dances in the sky.

I chose Greenland as my main location for this video because of its remoteness and how far north it is geographically, and it sits directly under the aurora belt. Greenland usually has fairly clear skies, which makes the odds of seeing the aurora much better. The place was very challenging logistically as travel within Greenland is either by plane, helicopter, dogsled, or snowmobile. I used two local guides to assist me and we traveled across the landscape mostly on dogsled.

Since Iceland is technically on the way to Greenland for me (coming from Los Angeles), I decided to stop there to shoot. Iceland has great aurora display regularly, but the weather in Iceland is the main problem shooting there. Fortunately, I got lucky and had 2 nights of clear skies and amazing aurora. I used a rental car and simply drove around the main road hunting for aurora.

More info: vimeo.com