Colorful aurora borealis lights in purple, pink, and green illuminate the night sky above icy water with floating icebergs and snow, reflecting the vibrant lights. Mountains are visible on the horizon.

One night in 2018, I was viewing the international space station through a telescope in the observatory of Helsinki. Suddenly, I looked into the opposite direction and there, for the first time ever, I would see the northern lights dancing over the city below. The experience was otherworldly and I wanted to see them again and again.

To do so, for nearly five years, I have lived in the small remote corner of the Finnish Lapland, above the artic circle. Since 2021, I have lived in a total of three different locations in Finnish Lapland in order: Salla, Sodankylä and Kilpisjärvi. I have also worked in a total of seven different Greenland-based fish factories all in different, mostly small and remote, locations, despite hating fish.

I own no car and never wanted one. To get to the best photography locations in Finnish Lapland, I ride a cheap manual bicycle even in the winter months. Riding in deep snow during the winter is extremely difficult, but I follow snowmobile tracks which compact the snow enough to allow me to get around.

Vivid green and white northern lights swirl dramatically across a dark night sky, with faint stars visible and the silhouette of a tree branch in the upper left corner.

A lone tree stands in a snowy landscape under a sky illuminated by green and purple Northern Lights, with faint stars visible in the background.

Green Northern Lights illuminate a clear night sky above a large, jagged iceberg in a snowy, icy landscape.

A snowy landscape at night with a silhouetted tree in the foreground and vibrant green and pink aurora borealis lights dancing across a star-filled sky.

Prior to moving to Lapland, I had never owned a camera and I almost never took photographs. However, just watching the aurora captured my attention and made me want to document them, too. It quickly became a hobby for me to play with the combination of the foreground and the northern lights to craft a photo where everything works together.

For my first camera, I chose the Sony a7S, which was excellent for the job. However, the battery life was awful and often I’d be in a situation where I have beautiful northern lights in the sky, but several dead batteries in my pockets. In these moments, I would sacrifice my fingers by taking gloves off, despite how cold it might have been. It definitely makes operating things a lot faster and easier, but since parts of the gear were made of aluminum, it was incredibly cold to touch and if there was no way to move my fingers anymore to press the shutter button, I’d use my jaw.

These days, I use a Sony a7R IV and I find that the batteries are significantly better. I also upgraded my old aluminum tripod and use the Peak Design Travel Tripod, which is not only more lightweight, but also more friendly to my fingers in the cold.

A person in a red jacket stands on a reflective frozen lake, watching vibrant green and purple northern lights dance across the night sky, with a shooting star visible.

Green lights in the sky.

Colorful aurora borealis lights in shades of green, pink, and purple fill the night sky above a snowy landscape with bare trees scattered across the ground.

Rows of white crosses in a cemetery overlook a calm body of water and rocky hills, with green aurora borealis lights illuminating the night sky above.

I originally used Sigma Art lenses but found them to be heavy, so I switched to Sony’s G Master line and use the 14mm f/1.8 mainly as my go-to aurora lens. Situationally, I might also use the Sony 35mm f/1.4 G Master as it allows for a little different type of aurora photographs where the 14mm could potentially leave the foreground a little underwhelming.

The aurora chasing in Greenland has at times been a little spooky. Especially in the north during winter, the polar bear encounters are not unusual. In some of the locations that I have lived, they are a frequent sight around the villages. So, walking in the complete darkness without a rifle and having just a faint headlight is definitely a “thrilling” experience.

One of the photographsthat I captured while working in a small settlement of 100 people named “Qeqertaq” was published by NASA as the Astronomy Picture of the Day in 2023, which showcases a drifting iceberg under the northern lights.

Colorful aurora borealis with green and purple lights spreads across a starry night sky above calm water and a distant, snow-covered mountain range. An iceberg glows in the lower center.

A person stands in the doorway of a small, warmly lit cabin under a night sky illuminated by vivid green Northern Lights, with a hill silhouetted in the background.

In September, I’ll start working in a slaughterhouse in South Greenland, a job I never thought I’d do as I have always struggled when it comes to seeing blood, but this will allow me to explore the geographical region properly. It also happens to be the best region of Greenland to see the aurora. In the north, where I have spent most of my time, they are less frequent and mostly in the southern side of the sky.

In future, I plan to take the aurora chasing experiences to the remote corners of Alaska, Nunavut, and Siberia where I want to try to bring the elements of nature and culture in photos with the northern lights dancing in the skies.

A person in a red jacket stands beside a bicycle on a lakeshore at night, gazing at a vibrant green aurora borealis illuminating the sky and reflecting on the calm water.

A person with a bicycle stands on snowy ground at night, looking up at vibrant green northern lights that swirl across the starry sky above a landscape of scattered trees.

A green and purple aurora borealis over a snowy field.

With each northern lights display being a little different from each other it is easy for me to remain interested in them. The green is of course the most common one, but at times you might witness other colors such as pink, red and even blue. The lights also creates interesting shapes in the skies such as spirals and sometimes even the shape of an object or animal. In my case, I have seen a bird.

A person stands on an icy surface at night, gazing at vibrant green northern lights swirling across a star-filled sky, with distant hills and small lights on the horizon.

Colorful aurora borealis with green and red lights streak across a starry night sky above a snowy, tree-dotted landscape.

Green aurora borealis lights swirl across a starry night sky above silhouetted treetops, with a bright moon shining on the left side of the image.

A pair of large whale bones form an arch on rocky ground by the water, illuminated by moonlight, with the green aurora borealis lighting up the night sky above.

The hobby also keeps me in a good shape. After all, cycling or swimming in deep snow is a good workout.

About the Author: Dennis Lehtonen is a 29-year-old photographer from Finland with a strong passion for the night skies and the polar regions. He lives a minimalistic, nomadic lifestyle and often seeks experiences outside his comfort zone. More of his photos can be found on Instagram.