A day before the participants of the photo trip arrived in Senja, our guides Jos and Ron had some time to go out on their own. They got in the car and drove to a place where we would stay with the group the last night as well. The gentlemen were immediately treated to a beautiful show by Lady Aurora, amazing! Now for the group! Surely it would be very cool if everyone got a chance to photograph this cool spectacle.
Once the participants were all complete it was time to start from Tromsø to drive to Senja. There are few restaurants on the island itself so they stopped at a Thai restaurant along the way. A relaxing start to the trip. Such a first day is often quite tiring for the participants anyway. They often have to travel a long way before arriving at their final destination and at the same time they are overwhelmed with new impressions. For the rest of the week, the group relied on the cooking skills of the guides.
Besides hoping for the Northern Lights in Norway in the winter, snow is part of that. Well they knew it. The whole week it was a coming and going of snow showers followed by, (really) beautiful light. Sometimes it was a bit of a struggle. Boudewijn even disappeared in the snow up to his waist, luckily he was wearing a red coat so he was easy to find! :). Maybe you don't expect it but as long as the wind is minimal the temperatures are pretty good to do even though it is often far below 0. And as they always say "Bad weather doesn't exist, bad clothing does". Layer on layer, heat pad here, hat there, gloves on and go. What tough guys they were.
When we talk about the Northern Lights and their predictions, you actually always immediately think of the KP index. However, there are so many more factors that determine whether and how much Northern Lights can be seen. During this trip our guide Jurre Jan de Wit gave the participants a workshop Aurora photography including the planning around it. He gives daily Aurora excursions to tourists in the region of Tromsø through which he understands the Northern Lights like no other. How is it created and how do you capture it beautifully? A super valuable addition to this trip.
The day after this workshop the group together with the guides including Jurre Jan went photographing near the accommodation. As photographers we know better than anyone that sometimes you have to be a little more patient until the right moment arrives. From 00:00 to 3:00 there seemed to be little happening. And then... BAM! Northern Lights. So bizarre color, even red and pink swirled among the stars. What a reward. And for us, there is nothing like seeing happy faces. As we wrote earlier, the guides sometimes cook during the trip. So Ron and Jos were making fresh pizza for the group while outside the Northern Lights came out. Then we just serve the pizza outside, right? :)
In 2020 Jos was also in Senja and there he photographed a detail image that is like an eye! (see photo). Every time he went looking for the eye but he couldn't find it until he suddenly ran into it during this photo trip. He showed it to the participants and now you can guess what they call the eye now? Indeed"The Eye of Jos." Martin even entered a photo contest where he submitted the photo with the above title.
It was a week where they braved all types of weather but rightfully saw Senja at its most beautiful. The plodding, warming up, little sleep and missing a suitcase was finally rewarded with no less than 3 nights of Northern Lights. Mission accomplished! After all, it is not a given that you can see it so many times in one week.
