Northern Lights Photographer of the Year Winner
capture atlas has announced the winners of the 2024 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards in the seventh edition of its annual photo competition.
This year was an exciting year for aurora photography – both aurora borealis and aurora australis – as we near solar maximum of the current solar cycle. During 2024, increased solar activity resulting in polar views farther away from the poles than in recent years can be seen among the winners.
This year, the competition awarded prizes to 25 photographs by photographers representing 15 nationalities. We’ve chosen ten of our favorite images from the set to share here.
Do you want to be prepared to {photograph} the aurora if it suddenly appears in your area? Read our article on how to photograph the northern lights How to learn.
Carpe Diem: Adrian Cormier
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Photographer: adrian cormier
Place: Crater Lake National Park, USA
caption: May 10, 2024, started like any other new moon cycle for me. I was shooting at one of my favorite locations along the Sonoma coastline. At around 2:30 am, I was surprised to see that my phone was buzzing with a notification, as there was sporadic cell coverage in my location. The warning was something I never expected—and I’ll never forget! A fellow Sony Alpha photographer, who was in Nepal at the time, texted me: “Go as far north as you can before sunset, it’s going to be dark tonight!” A historic geomagnetic storm was predicted, which would likely peak at G5.
I immediately went home to grab my Atlas pack full of cold weather gear. My gut told me to go to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Shortly into the drive, I learned that the CLNP Rim Road was completely closed due to a recent 7 feet snowfall. Luckily, I was prepared for deep snow conditions and kept moving forward.
Confident and equipped with snowshoes, I settled on a spot along the south rim just east of Crater Lake Lodge, which was closed due to extreme snow levels. My image, “Carpe Diem”, captures that weekend’s spectacular display of geomagnetic energy, set against the iconic and unforgettable Alpine landscape.
Copyright Adrian Cormier
Look North: Linsey Schroeder
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Photographer: linsey schroeder
Place: Arizona, USA
caption: It’s not every day that the Northern Lights make it as far south as Southern Arizona! I’ve been mesmerized by the aurora since I first saw it in Iceland in 2018, so when I heard there was a chance to see it here, I didn’t hesitate to grab my gear and head into the desert with a few people. gone. Friend.
My expectations were low, but the show completely exceeded them! As soon as we got out of the car, we could clearly see a pink glow on the horizon, which would occasionally pulsate with twinkling pillars as night fell. I achieved a photography goal I never imagined I would accomplish: capturing the auroras shining over the beautiful saguaros of the Sonoran Desert.
Copyright Linsey Schroeder
In the rays of the solar wind: Sergei Korolev
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Photographer: sergey korolev
Place: Rybachy Peninsula, Russia
caption: After thawing, we were faced with a sudden freeze with extremely cold temperatures and clear blue skies. I was driving past a ditch on the side of a road that was filled with water and I had to stop and look (as we photographers do, we can’t cross a ditch without checking). This is what I found. Luxurious textures and patterns, tones and flows create dynamic, abstract designs with beautiful graphic lines. I love this type of work – it’s so much fun, yet challenging to find the right composition.
Copyright Sergey Korolev
Magic of the North: Josh Beams
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Photographer: josh beams
Place: iceland
caption: I’ve dreamed of capturing this shot for years, and this year, everything aligned perfectly! During my annual Iceland workshop, our group witnessed the immense power of nature as Iceland’s most recently active volcano erupted just days earlier.
After hours of shooting and soaking in the incredible scenery, we finished up and headed back to the car. Then, to our surprise the Northern Lights started dancing in the sky! I immediately launched the drone and sent it on a mission to capture this wild spectacle.
Navigating through the wind, heat and low visibility around the volcano, I managed to capture a vertical panorama as the volcanic smoke and ash shifted over the edge. A few moments later, the dreaded battery warning sounded, and I began the stressful journey back. By this point, the wind had gotten really strong, and I honestly thought the drone was a goner… but with only 1% battery left, it somehow came back safely!
Copyright Josh Beams
Devil’s Lights: Forest Barkdoll-Veil
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Photographer: One Barkdoll-Weil
Place: Wyoming, USA
caption: May 10, 2024: Aurora forecasts promised an incredible display, so I drove to Devils Tower, Wyoming to see the event. The solar storm reached historic KP9, and auroras became visible around the world. As the bright lights danced overhead, my father was undergoing emergency surgery two thousand miles away in Maine. It was a surreal night – in awe of the divine beauty above, yet struggling with worry for my father.
The aurora provided a strange solace amidst the chaos, allowing me to freeze in place as I captured this incredible event. My father, who has been a photographer for over 50 years and the man who introduced me to the art, thankfully survived the surgery and recovered after several days in the ICU. Although he missed this display, six months later, on October 10, we shared an even stronger solar storm as a family – a memory I will always cherish.
Copyright Forrest Barksdoll-Weil
Coronal mass explosion: Matt Haney
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Photographer: matt heaney
Place: California, USA
caption: After finally catching the elusive Northern Lights in the mid-latitudes on May 10, 2024, I was mesmerized. I realized there was more to predicting the appearance of the aurora than just relying on the KP forecast, so I learned to read the charts that determine when the lights can reach mid-latitudes.
This photo is the sixth time I have had the opportunity to capture them since that unforgettable night. Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California was the best choice, as smoke and clouds threatened to obscure views in most nearby locations. I stayed on top of a hill until 3 in the morning, and endured cold winds biting my layers, but seeing two significant substorms made all the discomfort worthwhile.
Copyright Matt Haney
Paddling under the Aurora: Hairy Himanshu
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Photographer: Hairy Himanshu
Place: Banff National Park, Canada
caption: I live in Saskatchewan, Canada, so I’ve seen and captured the auroras hundreds of times before, but that night in Banff National Park, Alberta was unlike any other.
Luckily, I was in Banff for a wedding that weekend when the massive CME was predicted to hit Earth directly. As darkness fell, the aurora came swinging out, with vivid colors of red, pink and purple dancing across the sky.
I had a three camera setup running timelapse in different directions, but even that wasn’t enough. A brave friend took a standup paddleboard down to the lake and modeled that crazy light show below for us. She was the perfect complement to the aurora and the mountain landscape.
We were all in complete disbelief at the colors and patterns unfolding above us. I will always remember those shared moments of happiness. I stayed up all night, driving hundreds of kilometers through Banff to iconic locations, capturing some of the best photos and timelapses I have ever taken.
Copyright Hairy Himanshu
Cosmic Explosion: Uroš Fink
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Photographer: Uros Fink
Place: Istria, Croatia
caption: On the night of the Perseid meteor shower, I got to see a “multi-course menu” of the night sky. I captured the Milky Way arch with Orion, Aurora (a first for me), the Zodiacal light and the Perseid meteors. As if that wasn’t enough, the sky gifted me one of the most amazing green air flashes I’ve ever seen. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the close conjunction of Jupiter and Mars on the path of the zodiacal light.
At the center of the panorama is the Cap Marlera lighthouse, built in 1880 on the southeastern tip of the Istrian peninsula. The rugged coastline at the entrance to Kvarner attracts fish and dolphins. The area is also home to the Mediterranean bear, although I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting one.
Meteorites rained all night long and I captured 75 of them using three cameras. I used RegiStar software to put the meteors in the panorama in exactly the same places as they appeared in the sky on this night.
It was an extraordinary, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event, and I am grateful and happy to have been a part of it.
Copyright Uros Fink
Aurora Australis: Mark Adams
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Photographer: mark adams
Place: Patagonia Fjords, Chile
caption: I’m not sure an aurora has ever been recorded in Patagonia before, but we were incredibly lucky on the night of May 10, 2024, when a G5 storm struck. We were camping on an iceberg beach in the dense forest of the Patagonian Fjords when the incredible display unfolded.
Copyright Mark Adams
28° Aurora: Efrain Yanes
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Photographer: Efrain Yanes
Place: tenerife, spain
caption: The night of May 10 was one of the most unforgettable moments since I became a photographer. I went to Tenerife’s Teide National Park with the intention of taking a circumpolar shot with the endemic Tajín in bloom. After setting up my camera and finding the right composition, I pressed the shutter. To my surprise, a strange red color appeared on the horizon on the camera screen. It was not light pollution, but something I had never seen before.
Suddenly, I remembered hearing recently about massive solar storms and the possibility of the Northern Lights at lower latitudes. My heart started beating faster as I scrolled through social media and saw others sharing photos of the aurora from the Iberian Peninsula. I realized that I was observing this extraordinary phenomenon from the Canary Islands. It was a magical experience that happened completely by chance, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it.
Copyright Efrain Yens
