Photographer wins UK's only 2025 Northern Lights award

A photographer who captured this year's only UK award-winning image of the Northern Lights said taking the perfect shot was a "pretty special moment".

Mathew Browne, from Carmarthen in west Wales, was named a winner in the 2025 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards for his picture of St Crannog's statue in Llangrannog "admiring" the dazzling display.

Stargazers across the country have been treated to numerous sightings of Aurora Borealis over the years, with the most recent last month.

"It's a career highlight, a validation of all the efforts I've put in over the years to chase this stuff," said Mr Browne of his win.

The aurora happens when the Sun goes through an active phase, experiencing a number of eruptions called Coronal Mass Ejections. These send solar particles towards the Earth.

It is the interaction of these particles with the Earth's atmosphere that create the stunning light displays seen in the sky.

Wedding photographer Mr Browne said he took the picture at about 01:00 BST on 25 October last year.

"I've been out many, many times, if not hundreds of occasions, on the hope of seeing something and coming back empty handed," he said.

He said he had been travelling up and down the coast to capture the perfect shot.

"I knew that night there was a good chance of seeing them," said the 41-year-old.

"The forecast was favourable but for it to all come together and have the camera with you is a pretty special moment.

"It's as if the statue itself is admiring the display in the sky."

He said it was "such a bright display that you could quite easily see the colours to the naked eye".

Mr Browne also had tips for anyone wanting to see future Northern Lights displays.

He said: "Be somewhere very dark and away from street lights, let your eyes adjust, so put your phone away, turn your car headlights off and you will look for a silvery cloud.

"Sometimes it moves before your very eyes and that's your cue generally that you're on to something.

"But there are some very rare and amazing occasions where you do see that colour and texture with the naked eye."

The 2025 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year, external awards received submissions from across the world, including New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Iceland.

It is the second time Mr Browne has won, after first being named a winner in 2023.