When chasing aurora, it can be incredibly challenging to capture the photo you envisioned in a single frame. On our last night in the small village of Reine, Norway, I was standing on a narrow bridge with mostly cloudy skies over head, and not a single band of aurora in sight. It seemed as though nothing would happen, but we waited. We lined up different compositions, wandered off to different locations, all while keeping the original idea in the back of our minds if conditions happened to change.

The moon rose over the Norwegian Sea as the clouds began to part, and the first small ribbon of aurora began to dance in the sky above. At first it was faint, but then it grew, and what seemed like only seconds, it was all around us.

We raced back to the bridge just in time to catch the finale. For a brief moment, the sky erupted in a dazzling display of jade and sapphire, and everything aligned. Then it was gone, and so were we.