Iceland is my favorite destination for photographing the Northern Lights. I’ve been more successful with aurora photography there than anywhere else so far. In winter, Iceland turns into a Mecca for photographers in search of the elusive aurora borealis. And the search is always worth the effort in spite of frustrating crowds and fickle Icelandic weather.

I’ve photographed various regions of Iceland in the winter, but one of my most memorable trips was a March visit to the southeast. After seeing clear skies and a promising aurora forecast, we settled on the famous Jökulsárlón as our destination for the night.

For those not familiar with Iceland, Jökulsárlón is a glacial lagoon bordering Vatnajökull National Park. The still blue waters of the lagoon are dotted with icebergs that slide off the surrounding glacier. The icebergs eventually flow through a short waterway into the Atlantic Ocean, the ice chunks washed up on a black sand beach that attracts scores of photographers.

We arrived on location at the lagoon after dark and took up our position at water’s edge. It wasn’t long before the aurora display began to fill the sky with vibrant color, shifting patterns in a continuous stream of light that seemed to ebb and flow for hours.

This photo reminds a little of a spacecraft re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, with an aerodynamic drag of green light over the icebergs. The surface of the lagoon was very calm on that night, so the Northern Lights reflected nicely on the still waters, creating a perfect mirror of the scene.