In un long form pubblicato su Outside, il giornalista David Wolman e il fotografo Hugo Sanchez ci accompagnano in un viaggio nelle terre innevate dell’Alaska alla scoperta dello spettacolo luminoso delle aurore boreali. Nel corso del racconto, Sanchez, un 48enne originario di San Salvador con una drammatica storia alle spalle, spiega com’è nata la sua passione per la fotografia e in particolare per i suddetti fenomeni ottici.

Clouds that obscured our view a few hours ago have since given way to dazzling stars and a crescent moon.

The clarity sends Hugo Sanchez into high gear. Tugging a neck warmer up over his nose, he grabs two tripod-mounted cameras and starts trudging across a snow-covered field toward a riverbank.

It’s around 12:45 A.M. on a February night. The temperature is minus nine degrees, but a steady wind blowing over interior Alaska’s Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River makes it feel more like minus 20. Behind us, silhouettes of the scattered log cabins that comprise the hamlet of Wiseman look like something out of a different century.

Hugo keeps walking, pushing farther from our small group and the log fire that most of us are huddled around. One of the tour guides, a burly man in a snowsuit, follows Hugo and me toward the river’s edge, then asks that we stop. The frozen river is probably safe to walk on, but unnecessary risk doesn’t pair well with tour operations in absurdly remote and frigid locations.

Immagine da Good Free Photos.