Valentine’s Day Under The Aurora Borealis In Murmansk

Valentine’s Day seems to inspire couples across the world. I think I feel a bit old because Valentine’s day does not evoke the same blur of emotion that it once did. We don’t go out of our way to celebrate it but somehow we always land up doing some crazy stuff on the 14^th of Feb and it is never planned.

The Family Joke

Speaking of unplanned events, it brings to mind a family joke that comes up every Valentine’s day.  It was years ago when messages on mobile phones were popular and they hadn’t been taken over by the Whatsapp messages of the current world. I still remember getting a message from my father.

“Happy Valentine’s day! Have fun but not too much fun because 9 months after Valentine’s day is Children’s day!”

For those of you who aren’t aware of it, the Indian children’s day is celebrated on the 14^th of November. That however isn’t where the joke ended. Why? Because I had a reply of my own.

“I know!!! I was born on the 15^th of November!!!!”

My father never forgot. Every year he wishes me and calls me his Valentine’s baby!

A Unique Chance And A Great Idea

This year we planned on traveling Russia. This tropical girl had 6 days to acclimatize to the cold in Moscow before we headed off to the Murmansk which lies in the Arctic. 5 days in the Arctic gave us more than enough time to chase the Aurora Borealis in Murmansk and indulge in a lot of fun activities. We hadn’t even thought of Valentine’s day by then. Some would call that seriously sad but that is just who we are and we don’t really mind.

Viewing the Northern lights however requires a myriad of factors to be in your favor. You need to have good weather (i.e. no clouds), you need a fluctuation in climatic conditions, a good KP factor and some others that I have still not fully grasped. While we were analyzing our data we found that the best shot we had was on the 14^th of February. Like I said before nothing is ever planned.

Planning And Getting Our Gear Together

So what do you need if you want to head out into the freezing Arctic winds to capture that one elusive picture of the Aurora Borealis in Murmansk?

• Warm clothes. Don’t forget the scarf and the warm gloves.

I can’t lay enough emphasis on warm clothes. The temperature may just be -1 but the cold can seep in. Keep your feet and fingers warm too. Shawn would say that the ears are important too. Somehow my thick hair serves as a warm shield. His lack of it may well be the reason for this difference.

• Some alcohol or like the Russian people suggest hot tea!

They say that the Russian’s love their vodka and for a very good reason. It really warms you up from within. We on the other hand chose to take Bailey’s Irish cream instead. May well be too mild for average Russian but it did well for my IBS stomach. More importantly it was tasty!

The other option was warm tea. Now this also helps but I found that it fills up my bladder pretty quickly. The cold night and lack of a nearby toilet can probably compound the agony depending on how desperate you are for release.

• A good camera and the ability to handle the manual settings.

The aurora borealis isn’t always bright and astounding. That is the reason why a good DSLR comes in really handy. Just having the camera however isn’t everything! You need to understand the finer points of the manual settings like the ISO, shutter speed etc etc etc… (I don’t understand most of that. It is Shawn’s area of expertise.)

• A camera stand.

It was a new learning for me when I realized that the type of photograph you click depends on how steady your hand is. Now to click the aurora borealis you probably need a very low shutter speed and no matter how steady your hand is, it is never good enough. Believe me we tried. The blur that you get isn’t anything like the aurora. A camera goes a long way in getting the perfect picture.

• Transport

Since the weather is a big factor you need to keep chasing the aurora over a large landscape. What are you looking for? A hole in the sky! Wait! What? I mean a gap in the clouds. Now this gap is all you need to see beyond the cloudy sky. The bigger the gap you have the better your chances of seeing the Aurora Borealis.

The Aurora Borealis In Murmansk

We were so happy that Oleg had camera skills!

Honestly speaking we were a little disappointed with the aurora borealis in Murmansk. That however was largely due to our luck. It wasn’t the burst of light that we heard off. If we did not have a guide we would have probably have not known that it existed. To me it looked like a flat slightly colored cloud.

So how were we convinced? It turns out that the camera can catch what the eye cannot see. That is why I said the knowledge of operating the manual settings on the camera is so important. At first we did not get the right settings. Luckily our guide snapped this up before the burst was over.

Valentines Day Under The Aurora Borealis In Murmansk

Cheesy I know but it was Valentine’s day after all!

So while the day was almost at its close and the clock was going to chime and start 15^th February, we found ourselves getting cheesy and a tad bit romantic. Being married for almost 3 years doesn’t mean that the romance has gone. It may actually mean that the climax has yet to come!!

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