CHASING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
After finally witnessing a total solar eclipse and declaring it the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, I started hearing people say things like, “Wait until you see the northern lights.” So when fellow pro photographer Don Smith and I planned an Iceland photo trip to prepare for our upcoming photo workshop, we chose January because it’s in the heart of northern lights season. Could the beauty of the northern lights really rival a total solar eclipse? (Spoiler alert: Yes.)
It Only Looks Like Magic
The sun continuously bombards Earth with a “solar wind” of electromagnetic waves and particles. Each wavelength and particle in the broad spectrum of solar energy interacts differently with the atmospheric atoms and molecules it encounters. Some wavelengths bounce harmlessly back out to space; the narrow range of infrared and visible energy warms our days, colors our sky
