PORTFOLIO

Hunting to see Aurora Borealis deep in Tombstone park of Yukon has become a dream that I keep going back to. To say that going to the Ogilvie mountains always excites me is an understatement. the first time I experienced the lights up there, it changed me. It truly is a life changing experience. When they are visible, they are very impressive as they dance right above your head. North, East, South & West... It's marvelous. It's wild and weird. There could be weeks without them and then BAM, they hit you in the face for a week straight as they flame overhead. There's no long term forecast for them, it's a secret! A secret that you find and feels like glory.

This pristine landscape is beyond the tree line and it's well protected so no fires are allowed. Mind you, there's no wood to find to make a fire anyways! Backpacking food is the only thing you've got but who says you can't make gourmet backpacking food? ;) Best time to see the lights up here is end of August, all the way through winter. the sky is way too bright at night during warmer months for Northern Light viewings.

I think that one should plan to see the Aurora at least once in their lives. Words cannot explain. For a chance to shoot the Aurora with me in the Yukon, visit the "Photo Tours" section on my website!

Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon, Canada

I was truly mesmerized when i opened the tent zipper and looked outside as my friend shouted "Ramtin, WAKE UP, they are visible, and very f***** Impressive". I'll never forget this night of my life. We ate early that night and went into our sleeping bags for a nap to wake up and check for the lights. Luckily, on our first night, we saw them.

Photographing the Aurora Borealis at this time of year at such remote locations like this one has its challenges. Long and restless days of hiking or flying is often required to get to Talus Lake. This is near the Arctic circle. Weather here can change dramatically and quickly and even though this was late August, fall colors were already near peak and we woke up to frost at night.

The Aurora Borealis is something that you must experience in person in order to understand what it makes you feel like. There are no words that can explain this feeling and experience. But I'm hoping that my photograph will shed a tiny bit of light on how beautiful and epic this experience is.

For this shot, I used 2 exposures.. One is at night when the light show was at its peak, the other shot is from earlier at twilight/blue hour to bring some details into the shot in the foreground. I love photographing at night because often you can get rid of a lot of distractions in your composition as the landscape transforms under the light. I decided on a vertical composition because I needed to include a lot of the sky and the foreground. With a horizontal one, i'd loose a lot of the river and the sky and instead capture a lot of the mountains on the side which weren't part of the story. 

Tombstone Territorial Park

The word "Epic" is thrown around a lot these days but Yukon deserves it truly. This image was taken along the trail that connects Divide lake to Talus lake. It's in the Tombstone valley and there's no easy way to get here. You're either hiking 2 days going over the Glissade pass (The Beast), or flying in with a helicopter. It's not the typical composition you see from this valley. It is a 10 shot panorama taken hand held at around 10:30 am. This was last August at the peak of fall colors. As you can see, even so late in the morning, most of my scene is in shade and the sun is very low in the horizon. This photo is best appreciated on a large print!

Tombstone Territorial park is located right below the arctic circle. The landscape of it has been untouched since the beginning! It is such a privilege to be able to say that I live in a country that Yukon belongs to. While Canada has many beautiful and pristine landscapes including the Rockies and the far north, Yukon remains the most special to me. They call the Ogilvie mountains of Tombstone park the "Patagonia of the North" because of its jagged peaks but it's much more than that to me. It really deserves its own name. when I first walked the path, I immediately had such a strange feeling like I was not even on planet Earth. But this is the beauty of our planet. There are still places that are so well preserved and they are a reminder to us all of the skills of mother nature. Nature is such a wonderful artist. it's perfect! and without human destruction, it really shines. humans have a huge negative impact on the beauty of this planet and they are doing a great job at preserving this park so to the Tombstone territorial park staff, I say, THANK YOU! Thank you for taking care of this epic place while making it accessible to the public. The Ogilvie mountains will always have a special place in my heart.