Back from Iceland — Aurora Borealis over Brúarfoss

What a farewell from three weeks in Iceland! In the evening, before we had to leave for the airport, there was a great chance of seeing auroras. The first night of the new aurora season in Iceland. Moreover, clear skies had been predicted for the first hours of the night.

In the days before, we had met David, a photographer from Munich, who set out to scout one or two locations, i.e. to find out whether the view to the north would be interesting and, above all, whether we could expect light pollution. Songs are not uncommon outside the highlands in the southwest of Iceland because there are many geothermally heated greenhouses that are illuminated with orange plant light all night. Even just thin cloud cover shines orange far around such greenhouses and ruins any aurora photography!

When the aurora first showed faintly above our heads that day, we jumped in the cars and drove to pretty Brúarfoss. The aurora above our heads was visible to the naked eye the whole time — even from within the car. When we got there, the location proved to be perfect. The northwestern branch of the aurora was directly above the waterfall and partly reflected in it. The foamed water in the middle of the fall literally glowed green! We could hardly believe our luck — for me it was the first aurora sighting — to be in such a perfect place for photographing the aurora.