Kristian Batge, The edge of darkness (LANDSCAPE 2025)

The western edge of the Aurora Australis, where a crisp, dark, Autumn night explodes suddenly into magnificent beams of colour. I will always remember this night. I have seen bigger auroras, before and since, but this display was special. It came on a day that had borne some very difficult news, and it felt like nature was reminding me that even in the midst of irrepressible darkness, light, and hope can spring from nowhere. Where I might normally try to capture a full frame of colour, the largest beams, or the whole arc of an aurora, here I deliberately focused on the very edge of the arc, to capture the intensity and contrast of that precise point where darkness springs to life. "The edge of darkness" Tasmania (Longford region) 24 April 2023 Canon 5D MK IV 24 mm | ISO 3200 | f/2.8 | 10 sec

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.