15 Photos From The 2022 Northern Lights Photographer Of The Year

Explosions of the Sky – Kavan Chay: New Zealand is really a special place for astrophotography. The skies are beautifully dark, and there are so many interesting landscape features to take in. Despite this, I've never managed to capture an Aurora shot with an interesting foreground element prior to this moment. Unfortunately, the Aurora activity is not as consistent compared to other forms of astrophotography, so I had to be patient. It was a cold night when the alerts and posts from other excited Aurora chasers popped up online. I sent a quick message to a few friends and went out to this spot. I ended up spending some time here with a friend as the lights put on a show, but the display kicked it up a notch once he left. With the whole beach to myself, no pesky lights from other people or cars, the perfect weather and strong beams… I really couldn't have asked for anything better. It's this exact shot that made me addicted to chasing Auroras, and I've had the privilege of enjoying this sight many more times since then, with hopefully more of these moments to come.