“I learned that every image is not taken, it's received as a gift from the moment itself,” stated Dubai-based Jordanian photographer Mohammad Anabtawi as he described the surreal experience of photographing the Arctic especially the unpredictable Northern Lights during his talk “Edges of the North – A Photographic Voyage Through Norway’s Arctic Archipelagos” at the 10th Xposure International Photography Festival in Aljada, Sharjah.
Anabtawi, whose primary body of work was landscape, architectural, and archaeological photography based in the desert environments of Jordan and the UAE, was narrating his recent trip to the Arctic Circle in Norway, specifically the Senja and Lofoten Islands, to explore a completely new and challenging environment outside his creative comfort zone.
The trip was a significant shift from his usual "extreme yellowish" desert palette to the "complete white" of snow and ice. He found deep inspiration in the Arctic's unique qualities of light and silence, which he described as profound, living presences that taught him patience, “Silence is the presence, it's always alive.”
The rapidly changing and harsh weather was a major obstacle, frequently disrupting his attempts to capture planned shoots. He mentioned a specific anecdote about waiting for hours in bad weather to see the Northern Lights, only for them to appear when he was in a poorly composed location.
He observed that patience and serendipity were key to capturing some of his best shots unexpectedly. There were also instances when mist suddenly obscured a mountain or snow began to fall the moment he set up his tripod. The quality of light in the Arctic left a lasting impression on him, making him muse that "light could be a memory because it always implants in the place and the location and in my head as well”.
To Anabtawi, a real winter in snow-covered Norway and the extensive use of a drone for landscape photography which allowed him to capture unique aerial perspectives of fjords and mountains were novel experiences – one that motivated him to start a project titled "Edges of the North," with plans to visit other Arctic regions.
The seven-day-long Xposure 2026 concluded on February 4.
