Øystein Aspelund

The photographic series AETHER displays polar stratospheric clouds, which are formed more than 15 000 metres high up in the polar stratosphere during wintertime. I was lucky to discover these formations above Oslo city centre one afternoon in January 2020. Groups of birds gathered while the sun set, as clouds and low sunlight played out surreal magical shapes and colours in the background. 

The images are carefully selected slices of the sky, shot with a 200 mm tele lense. All visuals are from camera; no major edits/retouch/cgi is applied. Colours are kept as real as possible.