Alexander Kuznetsov

The night I turned 18, I saw some of the most stunning northern lights of my life. I was on my way to a nightclub to celebrate my coming of age, but the aurora caught me by surprise. I just stood there, in the middle of the street, watching the lights explode above my head. I thought, "Wow, this might be the best gift I'll ever receive in my life!" Little did I know what a huge role the aurora would play in my life years later.

Fast forward to 2012 — I got into photography and became a content creator. I bought my first professional camera, the Canon 5D Mark II, and thought catching the aurora would be a piece of cake. I was wrong. My first few aurora hunts were a complete disaster. Eventually, I had a few successful nights — but then my season ended early because I broke my camera.

Next season, I came prepared. I learned about auroras, scouted the best locations, and learned to be patient — like a predator waiting for its prey. Finally, I was getting good results! Thousands of aurora photos — timelapses & videos too.

I created content for local tourist companies, and then the Big Media found me — my aurora footage was featured dozens of times on TV, in news, and in publications around the world.

In 2016, I started running aurora hunting tours — first in Rovaniemi. Back then, most tours were quite simple: going to the same spot every night and hoping for luck. But I knew that pure luck wasn’t enough. I had an idea: to stay flexible — changing location, departure time, and duration to maximise the chances of seeing the aurora. It works most of the times!