Solar Flare put up some pretty nice Northern Lights. These were just barely visible with the naked eye, but the sensor really takes care of that!

I left the house at 9:30 for my photo adventure. It was a lot of fun getting ready to go on my mission. As I drove through town, the stars didn’t seem very bright and I couldn’t see any trace of the Northern Lights. I headed up Straight Slough onto the Kuskokwim. I headed north about a quarter  mile so I could just see the glow of Bethel, but WOW, the stars were now alive. There was just a green haze when I first got there, but as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could just start to make out the dancing of the lights. When I was in the Guard, I was a NVG Helicopter Search and Rescue crewchief. NVG’s or Night Vision Goggles allow you to see when it’s dark, but we still tried to stay out of the light for about 30 minutes before we would go anywhere as a Human eye can see pretty well at night after it becomes adjusted.

This night, the longer I was in the dark the better the lights became.

The amazing thing though was that the the camera could see so much more than even the eye could. The photos were shot at F2.8 for the most part for 15-30 seconds. I used my F1.8 thrifty 50mm (80 mm with my cropped sensor) and my 17-55 2.8.  I had to hold my breath and push the shutter button because it was so cold that my breath would hover over the camera. It was -24F. I used the self timer so I wouldn’t move the camera at 2 seconds.

My challenges were that the Earth moves during the 30 seconds and the camera’s mirror moving also moved the camera. I especially enjoyed looking at the constellation Orion. I saw several shooting stars during the 2 hours I was onsite. I had to warm the equipment several times because it was just so cold.

You would think that it would be pretty quiet, but it really wasn’t. As my eyes became attuned to the dark, so did my ears to the silence. The river at thistemperature is shifting and cracking. Italmost sounded like footsteps at one point. Then boom! The whole river cracked and moved! It felt like a mini earthquake with a little jolt. It was like a shudder sound and feel.

What a fun mini adventure! I was gone for two hours, but it felt much shorter.

Enjoy!

I made a trip up the river to Kwethluk late this afternoon. The road is plowed and I think you could probably hitchhike up there as there are so many vehicles on the trail. I am still playing with light, or more accurately, dark. I seem to been in the mode of shadows and such. The contrasts are fun to play with. I was catching some shots when there was a knock (or several) on my passenger door. Then a moment later my truck shook, so I went outside to find this little person climbing my truck!! The little guy and his dog were out investigating and keeping the streets safe in Kwethluk. Here are today’s shots.

I just picked up a 70-300mm lens which puts it at 112-480on my cropped sensor. In any case it opens up a bunch of options. Here are my first shots. Awesome image stabilization.