Sean Norman Photography » Vancouver based & internationally travelling photographer | Sean Norman

it’s my brother’s fault. yeah, what older sibling hasn’t said that in front of an audience before ;) he made me watch a conspiracy show about how solar flares will end our planet because they’ll knock out all our power grids. the only thing that came to mind for me? …well, at least i’ll croak watching the most amazing aurora this earth will have ever seen, and then when i’m up floating around up in non-physical a few moments later, i’ll REALLY have a view to die for.

things happen quickly for me. it’s kind of like – i speak it, get giddy about it, forget about it, and it materializes. it’s a pretty cool way to move through life. granted, sometimes it gets a little bit out of control. coincidence, creation, rendezvousing… call it what you will.
wednesday’s are THE day. they’re the day i ask to the sun to have a little pow-wow, a little solar flare, and then spew solar wind straight for the earth, so that by the time it arrives at earth on friday and saturday evening, i’m up in yellowknife under infinite stars on the edge of still lakes. so with solar wind en-route to earth, jen and i again jumped a flight up north and had the show of a lifetime. again.

somehow, at our b&b once we arrived and were getting settled in, i had this crazy idea of seeing a thunderstorm and the northern lights simultaneously. and seriously, that night, sheet lightning rolls overhead and off into the distance as the aurora comes out. you just can’t make this stuff up… check out the clouds on the horizon.

every single person who knows me intimately, not at all, or just on twitter – isn’t that right, samantha, knows that my idea of night life, and probably 98.7% of the rest of the world’s idea of night life, are polar opposites indeed. but once you see it, there is no denying it.

i got a text from a friend as i was leaving for this trip. it was different from a lot of others. it wasn’t the… ‘yellowknife again? why are you going there? you can go anywhere westjet flies, why would you choose yellowknife?’ text.it was different, it inspired something really unique, and my thirty seconds of focus on this particular text message sent me spiralling into every reason i go. a friend of a friend saw my some of my aurora posts, and wants to come see the northern lights for herself one day. ‘i don’t have the money right now, but one day soon i want to go.’

i love you all very much, but i’ve never cared very much what you think. i don’t live anything in my life for the approval, agreement, or praise of others. i just aim to do what i love to do the most. i’m a pretty simple person. spending as many nights as my life, and bank account will allow, under the northern lights is something i haven’t been able to get away from since i experienced it first a few years ago in norway. and i hope it never stops, because inspiring new friends to what i love so much, is almost as thrilling to me as just doing it for myself.

here’s night two of last weekend – september the third, and early on the fourth. enjoy, friends.

what’s better than getting back early, early sunday morning to the cutest little cat on your bed right?

my weekends are dramatic. my entire life is pretty dramatic, because i like it that way, mostly, but for the sake of you making it down to the photos – let’s just talk about my weekends. let’s talk about yellowknife, the northern lights, and a woman with a heart bigger than the sky. jennifer, on the other hand, who has learnt to deal with my dramatics via a heart of steel, told me ‘things will work out. they always work out for you. just chill. something’ll come up.’ i shouted back ‘NO! IT’S NOT OKEI!’ in an all caps text to her early wednesday night. i KNEW we had to be in yellowknife friday night for the weekend, and i knew going up for just one night saturday would be greatly unsatisfying. friends places were full, my three favourite bed and breakfasts’ were completely booked. friday of a long weekend, you’re forever my good friend and arch nemesis. so in a last ditch effort at about midnight on wednesday, i tweeted something to the effect of being jealous of samantha seeing the aurora outside her home in yellowknife. not three tweets later, jen and i had a bed, not just a floor, but a bed, for friday night. we were going, and we weren’t going to have to share a tent with the bears in the forest.

so what do you say about meeting someone else who, too, shakes with giddiness as the skies miraculously clear in the evening after a day of total overcast skies? how do you tell the story of feeling like family in a cozy home with perfect people, or finally straining our neck once again watching the aurora borealis dance the skies until three in the morning over a still lake? i don’t really think you do. this is friday night, saturday night is up next.