Photography-Life in Alaska-Random Thoughts
Photography highlighting Alaska, the most beautiful place on earth.
We've had an amazing run of aurora--eight nights in a row, which is the longest stretch I can remember in years when we've also had clear skies for that long. Last night the forecasts looked like that run was going to be over, so I didn't prepare for another night of shooting. Of course, when I woke up at 1 am and looked out the window, there she was! Not very intense at all, but just enough time to get dressed and outside to grab a couple of shots before it ended.
Yep, 4th night of Aurora. She did her typical quick tease at 8:30 pm with a bright band low on the horizon--just enough to make you think it's going to be another monster display but it quickly disappeared and didn't come back until 12:30 am this morning. Not as bright as the last couple of nights, but another quick hit of pink around 1 am. It's always fun just to be out there at that time of night when Bear Valley is almost silent, watching this energy flow across the heavens.
The third night of strong aurora! Saw the first bands low on the northern horizon around 8:30 pm, which is really early for us here in Anchorage. They did their typical pre-game tease--a couple minutes of a fairly bright band, and then the disappeared until 10:30, when they blew up again in racing bands of green and pink. The conditions last night weren't quite as good as the night before, a bit of haze in the air, cold, and very windy. The strong pink blast again only lasted a couple of minutes, and then she settled into a nice display that I shot until just before midnight, before calling it a night to thaw out. I need some sleep :)
Another night of amazing aurora, even stronger than the night/morning before. It started to show early, around 9 pm, and then at 10:42 pm the sky exploded with the most brilliant pink aurora we've seen in years here in Anchorage. The pink bands were blasting across the sky, looking like heavy surf waves running along a beach. And true to how the aurora dances sometimes, this intense color only lasted 5 minutes! There was still gorgeous green aurora for hours afterward, but this short gift came and went quickly. I gave up at 1 am because I couldn't feel my nose anymore. It was cold this morning!
Finally! We've been missing out on some decent Auroral displays the past couple of months here in Anchorage. Well, early this morning we made up for it with one of the strongest and longest lasting displays we've had in quite awhile. It started to build up just after midnight and really blew up from 1am to about 2:30am. Gorgeous curtains, spikes, swirls and shadows. There was aurora in the sky until 6:30 this morning.
Way too many pictures, but I've been having Aurora withdrawl, so hopefully you'll enjoy them. Click on them for full-screen.
