North­ern Lights Pho­to Com­pe­ti­tion — win a gift card!

There are many names for the danc­ing lights in the sky — North­ern Lights, Auro­ra, Revon­tulet — but no words can quite describe the feel­ing you get when you see them with your own eyes. We want to cel­e­brate the beau­ty of the North­ern Lights with our lat­est com­pe­ti­tion.

The Octo­ber edi­tion of our Board Game and Net­work­ing event came with a spe­cial guest talk from Jari Aikio. At the event, Jari gave atten­dees some top tips for find­ing and pho­tograph­ing the North­ern Lights in Oulu. In case you missed it, here is a sum­ma­ry of some of his key mes­sages.

Find­ing the North­ern Lights

Best times to see the auro­ra:

• Autumn equinox: Ide­al due to dark­er nights and milder tem­per­a­tures.
• Spring equinox: Snow reflects light, so auro­ras must be stronger to be vis­i­ble.
• New Year’s peri­od: Among the dark­est days of Finnish win­ter — great for auro­ra vis­i­bil­i­ty.
• Solar cycle peak: We’re cur­rent­ly in a 10-year peak (2020–2030), mak­ing this win­ter one of the best for auro­ras.

Ide­al con­di­tions:

• Dark­ness is key: The dark­er the sur­round­ings, the bet­ter the vis­i­bil­i­ty.
• Avoid light pol­lu­tion: Stay away from city lights and res­i­den­tial areas.
• Check cloud fore­casts: Clear skies are essen­tial; some­times auro­ras appear briefly and van­ish quick­ly.

Where to go:

• There’s a map avail­able in the Oulu Auro­ra Spot­ters Face­book group that shows good auro­ra view­ing loca­tions around Oulu. You can search by your area to find near­by dark spots with min­i­mal light pol­lu­tion. New points are added reg­u­lar­ly by local enthu­si­asts.

Pho­tograph­ing the North­ern Lights

Essen­tial gear:

• Tri­pod: Cru­cial for keep­ing the cam­era steady dur­ing long expo­sures.
• Remote con­trol or timer: Pre­vents cam­era shake when tak­ing pho­tos.

Pho­tog­ra­phy tips:

• Reflec­tions: Water sur­faces can dou­ble the auro­ra effect.
• Expo­sure length: Longer expo­sures affect how auro­ras appear in pho­tos.
• Auro­ra pho­tos are artis­tic: What you see in pic­tures is often enhanced and not exact­ly what the eye sees.

Pho­to Com­pe­ti­tion Details

Now it’s your chance to put those tips into prac­tice with our North­ern Lights Pho­tog­ra­phy com­pe­ti­tion! 

We’d love to show­case your North­ern Lights pho­tog­ra­phy at our upcom­ing Board Game Event in Novem­ber. All sub­mit­ted images will be fea­tured in a spe­cial gallery for atten­dees to enjoy and vote on their favourites. The pho­to with the most votes will be crowned our win­ner and will receive a €30 gift card as a prize.

To have your North­ern Lights pho­to includ­ed in our gallery, please send a high-qual­i­ty image to sophie.platt@businessoulu.com  no lat­er than Novem­ber 10th. We can only accept one pho­to­graph per per­son and unfor­tu­nate­ly, we won’t be able to include any sub­mis­sions received after Novem­ber 10th, so make sure to send yours in on time. 

We look for­ward to see­ing your pho­tographs! 

Pho­to Com­pe­ti­tion Rules and Sub­mis­sion Guide­lines

By sub­mit­ting a pho­to­graph to the North­ern Lights Pho­to Com­pe­ti­tion, par­tic­i­pants agree to the fol­low­ing terms: 

• The sub­mit­ted pho­to must be the orig­i­nal work of the par­tic­i­pant. By enter­ing, you con­firm that you hold all rights to the image and that it does not infringe on any third-par­ty rights. 

• By sub­mit­ting a pho­to, you grant Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu and Business­Oulu the non-exclu­sive right to use your image for pro­mo­tion­al pur­pos­es relat­ed to the com­pe­ti­tion and event, includ­ing but not lim­it­ed to social media, web­sites, and print­ed mate­ri­als. You will be cred­it­ed when­ev­er your pho­to is used. 

• Only one pho­to per par­tic­i­pant will be accept­ed. Mul­ti­ple sub­mis­sions will not be con­sid­ered. 

• All entries must be received by Novem­ber 10th. Late sub­mis­sions will not be includ­ed in the com­pe­ti­tion or gallery. 

• All sub­mit­ted pho­tos will be dis­played at the Novem­ber Board Game and Net­work­ing event. Atten­dees will vote for their favorite image, and the pho­to with the most votes will be declared the win­ner. 

• Please ensure your pho­to is high-res­o­lu­tion and suit­able for dis­play. Low-qual­i­ty images may not be includ­ed in the gallery. 

• Per­son­al infor­ma­tion pro­vid­ed dur­ing sub­mis­sion will only be used for the pur­pos­es of admin­is­ter­ing the com­pe­ti­tion and will not be shared with third par­ties. 

If you have any ques­tions, feel free to con­tact us at sophie.platt@businessoulu.com.