In recent years many wrote me wishing to come to Särna and see a Northern Light (Aurora borealis). I always answered "Nope, this isn't the place you can rely on an Aurora and plan a trip on it. Here it is quite a rare event. I myself saw a single one, and very weak." In my last book I wrote, with some reason: "Let me have the hope of a Northern Light paying me a visit where I live". She came (I can't help thinking it like a “she”). Last night wasn't just visible from Särna, but rather it was above Särna. A crown, zenithal Aurora, extended from horizon to horizon. Not intense, but with special shapes and dynamism: instead of the classic dancing veil, puzzle's tiles instantaneously turning on and off, like light bulbs. And pulsating glows which ran all over the drapes that stood still all around, the feeling of a huge, silent deep-sea creature crossed by waves of light. The winter to come will be a winter of Northern Lights, as the experts say (and that of 2012 will be even better). I am ready. To be honest, the birches aren't the main subject of the following pictures, but they rather serve as a context, but I love this tree and I like to pay homage to it whenever I can. I've been in Swedish Lapland in mid-September, in an attempt to revive the past glories of my northern lights and autumn colors. I'm writing "attempt" here, because the inclement weather precluded me any observation of aurora (which were quite active), and a hot summer - which lasted well into September - has guaranteed the worst autumn colors since I know Scandinavia: which means a lot of time. Only in the Abisko area the local birch forest – which covers an open plateau earlier affected by the first night cold (the switch that triggers the phenomenon) – has given me some glimpses worthy of the chilometers I had to drive to get there (1,200 km from Särna: so much for those who think I live “in the very North” :-). In some areas the undergrowth was a whole carpet of dwarf cornel (Cornus suecica), which shades were ranging from yellow to dark purple; just above, a thick layer of gold: the foliage of the birches. Two colors, two worlds. Between them, essential and shiny trunks thrown to fill the gap, as a bridge; to support the yellow on purple, like planking. A bit southward, we are in Kvikkjokk, at the gates of Sarek National Park. Still a birch, this time in black and white: a photo I wasn't really happy about, in color, but which in gray tones has surprisingly gained a character on its own, thanks to the soft light associated with the motion. "Wouldn't be out of place in a Tolkien's book" said a friend of mine; told by a leading member of the Italian Tolkien Society, that can only please me. |
All site contents are: © Vitantonio Dell'Orto, all rights reserved worldwide. The Chronicles of Särna, and other stories from the North.
I live in Sweden, in Särna (Dalarna). The Chronicles are a photo diary about the nature (but not just) here around and from all the Scandinavian areas where my photo job takes me.
My book: "My Sweden - Tales from an Italian photographer in the North" is available in the bookstores and by the publisher.
Archives
October 2018
Categories
All
|