31 Best Shots By Photographers Winning The 2024 Artist Gallery Awards

Bored Panda reached out to Gianluca Rubinacci, an Italian photographer who won 1st place in the Night category of The Artist Gallery Awards 2024 for his captivating 360-degree panorama of Norway’s aurora, titled “Dancing Queen.”

Gianluca shared insights into the meticulous preparation behind capturing the breathtaking natural phenomenon: “I usually plan the locations I will visit from home and try to create possible shooting plans based on the position of the sun or the stars: to the question I would say half and half because, as much as you can plan the shots, many times you have to improvise based on the weather or the conditions that we find ahead. In the specific case of this photo the location was already foreseen in my plans but such a strong aurora was a surprise since you can't plan in advance.”

When asked about obstacles the photographer faced during the shoot in Norway, Rubinacci responded: “The aurora is a subject that presents many difficulties, in this shot the major difficulties were two: the first concerns the movement of the aurora which, being very fast, forced me to use very short exposure times to avoid problems in the panoramic union; the second was the light intensity of the aurora which, changing suddenly, made it difficult to capture the light from every angle with the same shooting settings. In general, I believe that the best weapon to overcome a night under the aurora with good results is to keep calm and stay focused on the goal because in front of a show like that it is easy to get caught up in the euphoria for what you have in front of you.”

We were curious about the role patience plays in Gianluca’s work as a photographer, particularly when capturing something as unpredictable as the northern lights. Here’s what he shared with us: “Patience is the foundation of landscape photography: any weather condition is unpredictable and many times there are more failed sessions than successful ones, the important thing is to never let failures discourage you and try to continue pursuing your photographic objectives; in the case of the aurora, patience is the weapon that allows you to bring home the result especially if, as in my case, the sky was overcast and I had to wait for a long time before the clouds cleared giving me the opportunity to shoot.”

Lastly, the Italian photographer explained how Flakstad Beach, where the winning image was captured, enhanced the beauty of the photograph. Gianluca shared: “Flakstad beach is a very characteristic location of the Lofoten Islands and I wanted to have a photo that portrayed it, specifically I chose it because it is very far from the inhabited centers and the light pollution is minimal, this allows not to have many glares in the sky and significantly improves the vision of the celestial vault.”