The Spirits Return

"The Spirits Return"

When synchronicity starts turning the wheels of time and gathering the elements, magical things can happen in front of our eyes.

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José Ramos ©

Website: www.joseramos.com

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Location: Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Iceland | September 2015

Story:

Three weeks after returning from my second Iceland trip, here is the first selected photo. I thought about starting posting images in chronological order, but couldn't avoid going straight to an image made on the third night, showing an epic display of Northern Lights in Jokulsarlon.

This trip began in a similar fashion as last year's. Arriving to the Keflavik airport at 1h15m and sleep in the car is always quite a harsh start for such an intense trip. Doing 140 km to Seljalandfoss on the next day and then having to return to Reykjavik due to a broken tripod adds to the exhaustion. Fortunately the third day made it all worth, as we had incredible sunset light in the Glacier Lagoon and then three hours of fantastic Aurora activity in the skies. Quite curiously, me and my companion were the only ones shooting there, making it all even more special. It's not every day that you have the honor of witnessing both the Northern Lights and the Jokulsarlon glaciers lit by the moonlight coming from behind!

Technical details:

Finally had the chance to shoot the Northern Lights with a full frame camera. I've always defended (and continue doing so), that an APS-C with a good lens can create stunning landscapes at base ISO that can rival with full frames, but when you venture into ISO1600 long exposure terrain, full frames are light years ahead of APS-Cs. I was stunned to see how much less noise the full frame sensor generates.

Sony a7R + Zeiss 16-35mm f4
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 30 seconds
Focus: Manual
Wireless Shutter Release
Manfrotto 055XPRO3 tripod