Northern lights with Dad

The aurora forecast yesterday showed a red band of excellent probability of northern lights, and Dad watched it creep across the map of Canada until it was finally our turn!

After midnight, we headed up to the midnight dome, the highest point above town with our cameras and tripods. And we weren’t alone! Soon there must have been 40 people up there also watching the northern lights and taking pictures. Most of them were tourists who were ooo’ing and aaaah’ing with each new band and swirl or pulse up the sky. Kinda neat thinking it may have been their first time seeing the lights!

And it was a good show! We were treated to northern nights in every direction of the sky, all around us, and up to the top of the sky.

Despite there being a full moon, the pictures turned out pretty well! This was my first time shooting the northern lights with my new camera, and I quickly discovered my camera remote isn’t compatible with my new camera, so I can to carefully hold the shutter without adding noticeable shake! Most of these have an ISO of 2000 with anywhere from 5-8 seconds of exposure.

Dad has had clouds and rain for most of his visit. But since this is the third year he’s come on the same rainy week at the end of August, he should expect this. Wait until he shows you the pictures of all the snow he saw north of here when he took the Dempster up to the Arctic Ocean.

I was smarter than the last time Dad and I did this. This time I had a toque, mittens, winter down coat, and winter boots on. It was a chilly night!

Even close to 2am, there was still a red glow on the horizon. We have hours of darkness at night already, but the sun was still lighting up the horizon!

I should have spent more time experimenting with people in the foreground. I’m going to try this again. If you look carefully below, I’ve got Dad in the bottom left of these two shots.

Dad left this morning, to start his week long drive back home to Ontario. It was great having him here. I’m working on convincing him to come back in the winter some time, maybe for the Yukon Quest. I think he’d love it!