Aurora jellies in fjord outside Tromsø, northern Norway. Photo © Audun Rikardsen
“Surrounded by darkness yet enfolded in light” ~ Alan Brennert
It seems dark in so many ways … quite literally in the northern hemisphere in the depths of winter, and figuratively around the globe as war and violence rage in Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank, and armed conflicts are happening in over one hundred places in the world.
In darkness let’s remember nature’s enduring, spectacular light — like this fjord in Norway, where jellies reflect the light of nature’s breathtaking aurora borealis.
Audun Rikardsen snapped this stunning photo, a finalist in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. As they describe it: “Sheltering his equipment in a self-made waterproof housing, Audun used a single exposure as well as his own system for adjusting the focus and aperture during the exposure. This enabled him to capture the reflection of the sky’s colours in the surface of the water and at the same time light up the jellyfish with flashes. Moon jellyfish are common in all oceans and are easily recognised by their four rings.”
Oceanwire 