Northern Lights Photography in Nuuk, Greenland
Greenland fascinates me. My passion and interest in the Arctic region and its people made me think that it’s only natural to visit Greenland. I got to feel, see, and learn so much about life in the Arctic during my short visit. One of the highlights was, of course, seeing the northern lights.
Once you see the dancing lights in the sky once, it will haunt you for the rest of your life. In a good way though. Ever since my first encounter in Iceland, my destiny was already written. I became a northern lights enthusiast!
The trip started with a great sign. On my flight from Anchorage to Reykjavik (on Wow Air. Remember when we used to have Wow Air?), I saw a strong flame-like spark in the night sky. The northern lights appeared during our flight. The interior lights in the plane were on the whole duration of the flight (safety reasons, I was told) so I tried to avoid the reflection by making a tunnel with my jacket. The flight attendants did look at me with strange eyes… I did manage to get a couple of photos of the aurora lights over the Arctic but it was even more magical looking at it.
Northern lights are part of the visual, physical characteristics of Greenland
In Nuuk, the capital city of Greenland, I joined a photography group for one night and roamed around the town on other nights. Luckily the northern lights were active on most of the nights except a few cloudy days. Because I went around the town during the day, I was able to find my way around to get some good spots for photography.
According to Greenland’s tourism professionals, it’s a well-known myth that when the northern lights dance across the night sky, it is the dead who are playing soccer with the skull of a walrus. Even today, people from some nations believe that children will be particularly intelligent if they are conceived on a night when the northern lights are visible in the sky.
Every time I look at these dancing lights, I’m always in awe. Here are photos of the northern lights from my time in Greenland.
