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Mother Nature casts a sparkling
spell, turning the landscape into a winter
wonderland. Icicles stretch their icy claws in contrast to the
softness of snow-covered fields. Jack Frost fills branches with
fairy-like feathers and transforms spiders' webs into fabulous
filigree. A time of enchantment, a time for snow-fun and frolics.
Children's laughter fills the air as snowmen grow and snowball
battles abound. Skiers snake down slopes, trekkers strap on
snowshoes and tobogganers take their tumbles. Don't forget - winter
is also a time to keep an eye out for those special shots before
they melt away forever.
One of the most amazing and
memorable sights to be seen and photographed in the winter is the
so called “Northern Lights”, the aurora borealis. You have to be
quite far north to have a chance of seeing them – northern Norway or
Sweden offer tailor made holidays in Lapland giving opportunities
to see this magical phenomenon, although sightings cannot be
guaranteed. The best time of year to go is December to March,
especially around the period either side of the new moon. The
aurorae occur because of the collision high in the atmosphere of
charged particles from solar explosions and flares, with atoms. The
lights are affected by the earth’s magnetic field, which leads the
particles to a circle around the Pole. At times of geomagnetic
storms the Northern Lights may be visible further south, but
generally you need to be between latitudes 3° and 6°. You can
photograph the Northern Lights very satisfactorily with a modern
SLR digital camera and a tripod.
There
is a parallel southern version, called “aurora australis”, visible
from high latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand and
Australia.
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