The ghost of seasons past

There are some places in the US that are already reporting northern light sightings. For the ones living in Tromsø, we still have to wait for some more time for the shy lady to show up.

But we should start warming up, getting all the gear up and running, and be ready to spend restless nights again!

This photo is an example of a typical issue when shooting long exposure: once you find a nice place, nice landscape, and the selfish lady decides to dance, you think everything is fine. But sadly, there are plenty of problems happening constantly. This is one of the shots that ruined a long time-lapse sequence I was working on: I was totally alone, all my gear ready, and as soon as the northern light started, a couple of rental cars with tourists appeared out of the blue, and walked all the way to my spot.

WHY do tourists gather around someone who is obviously taking photos?

That question bugged me for a while, and since they had already ruined the sequence (more on that in a minute), I decided to ask them why did they come to the spot where I was, since there was plenty of coastline to enjoy exactly the same experience. The answer they gave me was extremely obvious:

We saw a small blinking light from your camera, and we thought that you knew what you were doing

This answer left me speechless. They thought that since I had taken a not-too-obvious place to see the lights, I should be experienced. The reality is that I wanted to be alone, to avoid unexpected people bumping into my photographs. And that is what most of night-shooters want: either being alone, or with fellow photographers who will know how to behave around the cameras.

An unexpected visit. ISO 1600, f=2.8, 15 seconds exposure time

Please note that there is no "magic spot", nor there is any ownership of spots: sometimes you know where you want to go, what foreground you want to have, and what direction you will shoot, and sometimes you just stop in a place that looks good enough.

There are several photographers that feel rights over some places for night photography, but as long as you are respectful to each other, we can all enjoy our experience!

Why was my sequence ruined?

After a short chat with the tourists, I told them that my sequence had been ruined by them, and since they were planning to stay in Tromsø for the next days, I adviced them to be careful when they were scouting for a location.
The main reasons that ruined my shots were:
1- Six people, walking up and down a hill with both headlamps and torches, pointing everywhere, hitting either my foreground or my camera (when they got close enough), so several shots got either overexposed, or got light streaks in the shot.

2- When I told them that I was shooting and to please stand out of the camera, they approached me from the front of the camera (asking to see shots), blocking several shots until they understood that I was still shooting.
              *At the same time, they actually moved my camera to see my shots, while I was shooting.

3- They liked the spot I was standing in, so they spent the next 10 minutes preparing their gear while illuminating everything around, walking back and forth in front of my camera, and, although this is not a photographic issue, being loud and noisy.

Are there guidelines we could establish?

Definitely. We are talking about night photography, so we need to keep the darkness (avoid headlamps pointing towards cameras), stay away from other people  (usually a few meters will be enough), and respect each other.

If we don't follow some common sense rules, more shots will look like this ghost.