Northern Lights at Yellowknife

On March 5, 2013, I took this photo of the Aurora Borealis above the heated tents of Aurora Village in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Yellowknife is located at a latitude of 62.45 degrees North and is considered a subarctic region.

I took this photo at 12:16 AM using a Canon PowerShot SX40 HS at a freezing −54° Celsius. It was so cold that the mechanism of my camera’s telescopic zoom lens jammed at one point, prompting me to remove my gloves to try and fix it.

When I went back inside the heated tent, I felt a sudden, rapid excruciating pain travel across my fingers. One of the guides told me that I was very lucky. She said that "pain means the nerves are very much alive” and that I wouldn’t lose my fingers. As I type this narrative, I consider my myself very lucky indeed!