2.0 - Losing My Northern Lights Virginity
Last year, in late November, I enjoyed my second trip to Iceland.
The first time I went there was during Summer, so I didn't get the chance to see the amazing Northern Lights.
My travel mates and I were spending nine days traveling along the Southern coast of Iceland, surrounded by amazing lanscapes and the beautiful, feeble light of Winter.
We have been so lucky in terms of weather conditions: no storms, no rain.
I can't tell the same for what concerns our chances to see the Aurora: the solar activity had been very strong during the first part of the month, but on the first days of our adventure the activity was very low - almost zero.
On the 6th day, it happened that we woke up very early in the morning, with the intention of taking some pictures when outside it was still dark.
We went to an abandoned barn near our guesthouse, that was actually an amazing subject for a couple of pictures.
One shot, then another. The cold wind was trying to blow me away, together with my camera and my tripod as well. I was about getting into the car, to get a bit warm, but then I decided to take advantage of the time we were spending there, so I didn't leave. I placed my camera in a good position, and I started taking a series of 30s shots, in order to merge them later to create a startrail picture.
While I was shooting, I saw a falling star in the sky: I don't believe in this kind of things, but it was worth a try to make a wish.
Later that same day, I began merging my startrail pictures and I noticed that I had photographed that same shooting star I saw in the morning. I told myself that I would have deleted that from the final picture once I had finished my work.
In the evening, after having dinner, we went out again: we had some signals of solar activities, according to the Aurora Forecast.
We waited for two hours out in the cold - well, at least there was no wind!
While we were talking, a tiny green flame appeared in the sky, right behind us.
Soon it became bigger and bigger, and more intense as well.
I cried for 10 minutes, maybe more.
After a long waiting, after getting cold for more than a week, we managed to see the Northern Lights, dancing above us.
Now, can you guess what I wished upon that shooting star?
