Elbow River: Witnessing the Beauty of the Northern Lights
Our sun was exceptionally busy last week. Sunspots hurled increased volumes of solar plasma earthward resulting in an aurora storm that lasted close to a week. We had a few cloudy nights but I was lucky on two outings. This image is from the second trip down to the Elbow River at a bend near my home. It was half past 3 in the morning on the 3rd. The Northern Lights were painting the eastern half of the sky. The lights from Calgary brightened the clouds low on the horizon adding another element to the scene. The most beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis here this year – so far!
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Light trails into dawn on the Trans-Canada Highway
I have a favorite spot to shoot long exposures of traffic moving along the Trans-Canada Highway between Calgary and the Rocky Mountains. It has been a couple of years since I went out to that location – an overpass that straddles the east and west lanes. I went out to photograph the night and after a shy Northern Lights display found my way there. With the clouds blushing before the sun rose there was a beautiful balance between the lights on the road and the color in the sky. This was one of my favourite images from the morning.
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Winter Lightning
Just before Halloween there was an unusual storm that cut free from the mountains and flew over Calgary. Unusual because of the lightning that bounced among the cloud peaks during the cold front that it rode out onto the Prairies on. I found a whale swimming in the sky later but this flash over Signal Hill.
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A night whale swimming in the stars
I went out chasing a cold lightning storm with the hounds a couple of nights ago. We watched some strikes from Springbank as the weather raced over Calgary. I was a long ways from the storm so only a few photographs worked out well. It didn’t matter though as the clouds trailing behind looked beautiful against the starry sky.
It was a flight of fancy when I imagined a whale swimming in the sky. A little post production work realized the image in my mind’s eye.
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Aurora Borealis Abstracts
Throughout an amazing Northern Lights display on October 7th and 8th, the sky directly overhead was a nexus point for the ripples and bands of color. I typically compose with foreground landscape elements. This time I photographed straight up repeatedly and they were some of my favorite shots of the night.
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October 8’s Brilliant Aurora: A Celestial Spectacle
The Aurora Borealis rippled under the stars on October 8th. And then again two days later. These photos are from the first storm. Faint green streaks seen from our balcony compelled us out the door.
Heading northwest for darker skies to better enjoy the performance above. The intensity grew quickly, splashing across the starscape in waves from one horizon to the other.
At a few points they faded but never for long. We stayed out for several hours and it was a scintillating show all night. Easily among the very best Northern Lights that I have ever seen. Desiree saw multiple shooting stars as well. I caught a couple but only with my eyes. That was alright with me, I was more than happy to capture the greens, blues and pink.
Their streaks, balls, ribbons and sheets of mesmerized us as they courted and danced with one another in the sky. I was excited waiting for this blast of plasma from the sun to arrive. The resulting storm was pure joy and far beyond my expectations.
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Belizean Night lights
A nightscape from the eastside of Caye Caulker. It’s a beautiful island during the day and the night keeps up as well. The wind from an approaching storm put some motion into the palms and stirred the water. Photographically there is a lot to work with, and play with, there. I’m looking forward to returning.
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A bright start to a stormy Aurora night
I have been watching the activity on the sun with growing excitement for a few days. Tonight there is a large storm hitting the Earth’s atmosphere with the Northern Lights appearing early. I will head out again in the early morning and see how the Aurora looks then. These photographs were from my neibourhood just after 9pm.
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Happy New Year!
I hope it is a year filled with joy for you and yours. To my family and my friends, I love you and look forward to new memories with you in 2023. I’m happy to put 2022 in the rearview mirror and looking forward to the year ahead.
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Aurora and a traffic lit skeleton tree
From this late August Aurora Borealis storm, I leveraged the lighting spillover from late night traffic into the fields along Highway 8. Here, this weathered tree stood out from its neighbors due to the headlights passing by. The Northern Lights stayed low along the northern horizon and played a supporting role in many of the images I shot that night.
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A Subtle Aurora
At the end of May Desirée, Karen and I chased the Northern Lights late into the night. It was cloudy in Bragg Creek so we headed west looking for open sky and active auroras.
It was not a powerful geomagnetic storm but cast some beautiful pastels in sky and onto the clouds. I’m never disappointed whenever I get to watch to watch them dance.
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Sunset at the Luminous Lagoon
We spent a wonderful week in Jamaica earlier this month. One of the highlights was our night swim in the Luminous Lagoon along the north shore. It was an amazing experience being surrounded by the bioluminescence in that bay. We got there as dusk fell. The sunset was amazing and I took a couple of minutes to enjoy it before we headed out on the water.
