Iceland · 19–23 March 2026

Chasing the Northern Lights

IBefore Dark
·The Days Between
IIAfter Dark

Five days of frozen waterfalls, horses, steam and snow, all spent waiting for the dark. On the last night, it came.

Green aurora curtains arching across a cloudy night sky above a snowy road running between two hillsides. — North of Reykjavík · 22 Mar, 23:19

Route: Þingvellir · Reykjavík · Golden Circle
Selects: 25 of 245 frames
Cameras: Sony α7 IV · iPhone 17 Pro Max · iPhone 15 Pro
Aurora: 22 Mar, 23:10 → 00:14

About the series

Chasing the aurora means spending your days waiting for the dark. Most of this trip was daylight: black basalt, white ice, and grey weather moving in off the water. A frozen waterfall, a steel ship, horses in the snow, and steam coming off the ground at Geysir.

Then, on the last night, on a dark road north of the city, a faint band came up over the water at ten past eleven. For the next hour it kept building until it filled the whole sky.

Thu 19Þingvellir · Reykjavík

Fri 20Reykjavík · Grótta

Sat 21Reykjavík

Sun 22Golden Circle · aurora

aurora ↘

Mon 23after midnight

KeptEvery other frame245 frames across 3 cameras, on a 24-hour scale

Chapter I · 19–20 March · Sony α7 IVBefore Dark

Öxarárfoss in Þingvellir National Park, where the river drops over the edge of the Almannagjá gorge and in March had mostly stopped moving. Then Sólfar, Jón Gunnar Árnason's steel ship on the Reykjavík shore, looking across Faxaflói Bay to Mount Esja as a squall came in.

Wide view of the frozen waterfall with snow and scattered black boulders in the foreground. — Approach
19 Mar 10:29 · 42mm · f/5 · 1/320 · ISO **100**
The first view from the boardwalk. The whole scene is black and white, and the only colour is the pale blue inside the ice.

Close view of water spilling over a dark rock ledge between snow-capped boulders, edged with icicles. — Held
10:33 · 88mm · f/8 · 1/100 · ISO 64
At the foot of the falls, a small cascade still running between boulders. Icicles hang off every edge the spray could reach.

Vertical frame of the main falls: frozen columns of ice against the basalt wall. — Curtain
10:33 · 55mm · f/8 · 1/80 · ISO 64

Vertical frame of a thin side stream falling down the gorge wall above a field of snow and boulders. — Side Channel
10:34 · 55mm · f/8 · 1/80 · ISO 64

Öxarárfoss in winter: dark basalt cliffs with the waterfall frozen into columns of pale blue ice, snow-covered boulders below. — The Wall
10:34 · 56mm · f/8 · 1/80 · ISO 64
The whole face of the falls, with the water frozen into columns.

Grey-blue bay water in the foreground, a snow-covered mountain range on the far shore under heavy cloud. — Across the Bay
20 Mar 12:03 · 47mm · f/8 · 1/125 · ISO 80
Esja under a moving snow cloud. The light kept shifting across the water.

The Sun Voyager steel sculpture, close and low, its curved ribs and masts crossing the mountains across the bay. — Voyager
12:03 · 35mm · f/8 · 1/125 · ISO 80
Shot low and wide, so the ribs of the ship cross the mountains across the bay.

Vertical frame of the Sun Voyager centred under a tall grey sky, the bay and mountains beyond. — Heading Out
12:04 · 35mm · f/8 · 1/125 · ISO **100**

A ship that goes nowhere, pointed at weather coming in.Reykjavík shore · 12:04

The Sun Voyager in silhouette against a dark snow squall, a band of bright light breaking over the mountains to the right. — Squall
12:04 · 35mm · f/8 · 1/125 · ISO **100**
The squall had reached the far shore, with one band of light still on the mountains.

Interlude · 19–22 March · iPhone 17 Pro MaxThe Days Between

Phone photos from the in-between: the city, the coast, and one long day on the Golden Circle.

Hallgrímskirkja church, its stepped concrete columns rising to a spire, above a patterned black-and-white plaza. — Hallgrímskirkja
Reykjavík · 19 Mar 18:22 · 1/502 · ISO 50

The snow-covered rim of Kerið crater, its lake frozen white at the bottom. — Kerið
Golden Circle · 22 Mar 10:58 · ISO 80

Grótta lighthouse, white against a pale sky, beyond a line of dark sea-wall rocks. — Grótta
Seltjarnarnes · 20 Mar 15:42 · 1/559 · ISO 50

Close portrait of an Icelandic horse with a dark face and a pale blond mane, snow behind. — Friðheimar
Reykholt · 22 Mar 12:05 · 1/1715 · ISO 80

Whooper swans and ducks on a half-frozen city pond, broken ice in the water. — Tjörnin
Reykjavík · 21 Mar 19:09 · 1/121 · ISO 64

A long greenhouse aisle between tall walls of tomato vines under a glass roof. — Greenhouse
Friðheimar · 22 Mar 12:24 · 1/602 · ISO **100**

Steam rising off a hot spring pool ringed by red-brown earth and snow. — Geysir
Haukadalur · 22 Mar 14:00 · ISO 80

Gullfoss in winter, the falls half-frozen as they drop into a snowy canyon under blue sky. — Gullfoss
22 Mar 15:01 · ISO 80 · eight hours before dark

Chapter II · 22–23 March · 23:10–00:14 · iPhone 15 Pro and 17 Pro MaxAfter Dark

A pull-off on a dark road north of Reykjavík. It started as one faint arc over the water. About ten minutes later it was overhead, in curtains of green and violet moving through gaps in the cloud.

Two people in winter coats smiling under a faint green aurora arc low over dark water. — First Light
23:10 · ½ s · ISO **12500** · iPhone 15 Pro
The first band, low over the water.

A person in a white parka with arms raised on a snowy road, a bright green aurora band crossing the sky behind. — Here It Comes
23:18 · ¼ s · ISO **10000** · iPhone 17 Pro Max
Eight minutes later, the band had climbed right over the road.

Vertical frame: aurora curtains pouring straight down from overhead toward a snowy road between hills. — Overhead
23:21 · ½ s · ISO **3200** · iPhone 17 Pro Max

Five days of waiting for the dark. Then the whole sky moved.North of Reykjavík · 23:21

Two figures huddled together on a dark road under sweeping green aurora curtains. — Under It
23:30 · 1/5 · ISO **12500**

Vertical frame: a broad pale-green aurora arc breaking through cloud above a snowy hillside. — The Arc
23:31 · 1 s · ISO **3200**

Green and violet aurora curtains hanging down behind lit clouds, stars between them. — Curtains
23 Mar 00:05 · 1 s · ISO **4000** · iPhone 15 Pro
Just after midnight the aurora and the clouds were mixed together. Violet shows along the bottom edges of the green.

An aurora arc over dark water and snowy hills, the moon glowing through clouds to the left. — Last Look
00:13 · 1 s · ISO **3200**
The last frame of the night. The arc is over the water, with the moon coming through the cloud.

The edit

The daytime frames were shot over snow in bright, flat light, so they came out washed out. The night frames are handheld phone exposures at up to ISO 12,500, so they came out noisy and orange from the city glow. The edits fix both without changing what the sky actually looked like. Drag across a frame to compare.

BeforeAfter

The Wall · the grey sky is back and the rock has more depth

BeforeAfter

Squall · haze reduced over the bay, sensor dust removed

BeforeAfter

Road North · less noise, less orange city glow in the cloud

Tone

Pulled the highlights down so the snow and sky show texture instead of pure white. Gave the basalt and snow more contrast in the midtones. At night, set blacks to real black while keeping the snow on the road visible.

Colour

Neutral, slightly cool white balance by day. At night, took the orange city glow out of the clouds and left the aurora's green and violet close to how the phones recorded them.

Clean-up

Reduced noise on the night frames without smearing the stars. Removed dozens of sensor-dust spots from the Sony skies and cropped two verticals to cut down the blank sky.

About the series

Chapter I · 19–20 March · Sony α7 IVBefore Dark

Approach

Held

Curtain

Side Channel

The Wall

Across the Bay

Voyager

Heading Out

Squall

Interlude · 19–22 March · iPhone 17 Pro MaxThe Days Between

Hallgrímskirkja

Kerið

Grótta

Friðheimar

Tjörnin

Greenhouse

Geysir

Gullfoss

Chapter II · 22–23 March · 23:10–00:14 · iPhone 15 Pro and 17 Pro MaxAfter Dark

First Light

Here It Comes

Overhead

Under It

The Arc

Curtains

Last Look

The edit

Tone

Colour

Clean-up