Northern Lights in Bragg Creek
After the Great gray owl and I parted ways it was very dark which helped me to notice a slight glow to the north. I drove to a field where I could get a better view of the sky and found the Aurora Borealis was just starting to brighten off the horizon. The lights rippled and stretched above valley for more than an hour.
As they began to wane, I went to nearby Wild Rose Lake and was able to catch the Aurora’s reflection in the water. As well as its glow mixing with the city light from Calgary. This was an unexpected, but gratefully welcomed, surprise and end to an already great night photographing out in the country.
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The Northern Lights over Southern Alberta
The Aurora Borealis has been very strong for a few nights in a row, reaching southern Alberta regularly which comes after what has seemed like a very long absence. Perhaps it has just been me that was absent for shows since last year but being out for this one on the night of March 18-19. When I went out at 11pm, there was a dull green bow low in the sky towards Calgary. After a while, the arch began to glow brighter and stretch higher. Columns then started to separate from the green band and the arch itself dissolved. For the next couple of hours the lights shifted their shapes, colors and intensity.
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I was out on the berm that sits between Redwood Meadows and the Elbow River. The height of the berm, the rocky shoreline and the snow remnants allowed for a variety of perspectives. The three and half hours that the Northern Lights performed allowed me the time to explore these. It was an amazing night.
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Aurora over the Elbow River
Canon 5DIII – 24mm lens: 6 seconds on f/1.8 at ISO 3200
In the middle of the active Aurora that reached southern Alberta the lights were reflecting brightly over the waters of the Elbow River in Redwood Meadows.
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Saint Patrick’s Aurora
Canon 5DIII – 24mm lens: 2.5 seconds on f/1.8 at ISO 6400
The night after St. Patrick’s Day brought out the Aurora Borealis over southern Alberta. Along the Elbow River, west of Calgary, the bands of color rippled in the sky and on the surface of the water for several hours. I met two photographers, Stacey and Clif, out on the berm. They had come out to Redwood Meadows in search of the Northern Lights. The show took a little while to start so it was nice to chat while we waited. When the lights did start to dance it was beautiful. I will share more images from the night soon as the colours and mood changed throughout the night and allowed for great variety.
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Rocky Mountain Sunsets
During the chinook of the last few days there were several beautiful sunsets that I took time to enjoy. Looking west at the Rockies is one of my favourite skylines and their silhouette at dusk often adds immensely to a landscape photograph.
The chinook ended last night with the arrival of a snowstorm which continues this morning. I’m not too dismayed, it was nice to have a break of warm weather in the middle of winter.
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On a cold clear morning…
This strange cloud and a few stragglers lit up brilliantly ahead of the rising sun. I was driving east towards Calgary and stopped for a few minutes to watch what looked more like a stack of cotton candy than a regular cloud. Mind you, whenever I think a cloud is just a normal one, watching it morph unpredictably as it crosses the sky reminds they are magical creations.
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Solar eclipse
(Please click on the picture to open a higher resolution version of the image)
The October 23rd solar eclipse was at its maximum at 4:07 pm here in Calgary. It was a partial eclipse with the moon blocking out a majority, but not the entire sun. The sun swung like a pendulum behind the moon which afforded a couple of images of each of the distinct phases. The image above was taken at 4:07 PM MST which was at the maximum.
The image above was from 3:55 PM and the one below was taken at 4:13 PM as the sun and moon separated.
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A late night light show
A few nights ago, the Northern Lights came out in force and extended brightly above my home in Redwood Meadows just west of Calgary. We rarely see the Aurora Borealis here, when the lights are out I usually head further west to escape the nearby city glow, but the extraterrestrial storm that night was exceptional. The Aurora rippled throughout the night, with blues and greens early on and then adding in purples and yellows as the morning approached.
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It was a wonderful evening spent in the backyard.
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Northern Lights in Redwood Meadows
Canon 5DIII camera with a Canon 24 f/1.4 lens: 1.3 seconds at f/1.8 on ISO 2500
The Northern Lights were very active last night. For three hours I was outside watching the show in the sky and it was the best I have seen so far this year. This image is from a particularly wild period where there were many streams of light rippling together beneath the stars.
If the image looks pixelated, please click the picture to open up a higher resolution version.
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Last Night’s Northern Lights
The Aurora Borealis lit up for a couple of hours last night so Jack and I were out until 5 AM watching the ribbons stripe the night sky. There were few clouds and it turned out to be a very enjoyable performance.
A few images from the same night can be seen at this post.
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Winter landscape: fire in the sky
The glow before sunrise caught bands of clouds above the forests in West Bragg Creek. With the temperature below -20°C, it was warming to see this early fire in the eastern sky. I enjoyed taking a break from following moose tracks for a few minutes to watch the morning arrive.
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Palm tree sunset in Wailua
We had a lovely sunset a couple of nights ago. The western of Wailua, where I am staying, has a few mountain ridges and valleys blocking the view to the ocean directly but the on this night the sky was beautiful. A stand of palm trees in the courtyard made a great silhouette to anchor the pastel lines.
