Northern Lights

I still can’t believe I got to see the Northern Lights! I am a freak about these. Last year when we were in Canada we stayed an extra night to get a chance to see them. I follow photographers and aurora accounts on social media. I have aurora apps that alert me about them. I have wanted to see and get pictures of them for years.

On Friday when the news started to say there was a chance I knew I was going to go. Greg had talked to Darin and him and Kenzie wanted to go out where we could see them too.

I figured the hill by Horseshoe Bend would be dark enough. So Darin and Kenzie headed out there while we were at Jaelee’s band concert. I kept watching the tracker while we were at her concert. The chances were low we’d see something. It was at 10-15% but I didn’t care, if it was at 1% I was going.

After Jaelee’s concert I bolted out. We ran home to get all my camera gear. Jaelee, her boyfriend, Greg and I decided to go. Jayse didn’t want to.

When we got out there it was wild! There were 100’s of people. People parked all over the place, in the truck run off spots, every outlook. I was overwhelmed with the people and disappointed. I wanted darkness. Luckily Greg knows all the roads from hunting and we went on an old highway. There were a few people there but not many.

By the time we got there Kenzie was already getting pictures on her camera of the Northern Lights. I was so excited. I set up and started taking pictures. I had one camera on a tripod and one on my monopod and I was taking pictures on both like crazy. Every time I looked in the camera I was so excited. It was incredible.

You could see the Northern Lights with the naked eye. It definitely is not like through the camera but you can see it. It’s like a light colored haze. You could see it moving and dancing and streaking the sky with green and pink colors.

We were out there for hours and I could of stayed hours more. I couldn’t get enough. At on point Darin and I just kept saying THIS IS BUCKET LIST!

Finally after midnight, Darin and Kenzie had left, Greg was sleeping in the passenger seat and Jaelee and her boyfriend were sleeping in the back of my SUV. I figured I’d better leave but I could of stayed hours more.

When we got home I could see the Northern Lights behind the house with my own eyes. I couldn’t go to bed. I went and got Jayse and told him he had to see it. I took a few pictures of the house and then Jayse and I went to the reserve near our house where I took more pictures. I was up until 3 am!

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I got some video:
This one was right out in front of us.

This one I’m pointing the camera literally directly up over our heads.

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An airplane went by while getting this, thought it was kinda cool.

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The news was coming in that we would get a 2nd chance to see them on Saturday night. I was going to go again. I wanted to do a time lapse, I had seen so many people take time lapse videos and they were awesome. I had never done one before on my camera so I went out early and tested it a few times. I was confident I could do one. I was all by myself in total darkness. Not as many people out this night. There were some but I was along in the spot I picked.

As it started to get dark I was afraid we wouldn’t them again. I started to take pictures from my car and wasn’t seeing anything. But then! At about 10:20 I started to see them. I did a time lapse from inside my car for 5 mins to see if I could do it and I got it so I got out and set everything up. It was really windy so I put my camera near my car and opened the doors and put a blanket around it to block the wind. I set everything up and let it go. I can’t see if it’s actually getting anything so I just hoped. I set it for 20 minutes.

I plugged the battery in for my other camera and forgot it. I was kicking myself because I had one camera tied up with the time lapse and wasn’t sure it was even getting anything. I put my phone on my monopod and got pictures with it while I waited. I could tell after about 20 minutes the Northern Lights were dying. I was just hoping I had got something. When I heard my camera quit I grabbed it jumped in my car and watched the video. I had gotten it. I was so excited I started tearing up. It was so incredible.

I still just can’t believe this happened. I was on a high from all of this for the following week! To be honest I’m still jazzing about it.

At first I was seeing nothing and thought maybe we wouldn’t see anything a 2nd night.

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Got bored took pics of the moon.

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There it is!

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These are from my phone –

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This is my first test video from inside my car to see if I could make it work. And you could see just as it’s starting!

20 minutes in 4 seconds. Still one of the coolest things I’ve got to photograph:

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