As a resident of Alaska, it can sometimes be easy to forget how few people have the chance to see the Northern Lights. Some of my best college memories come from 1AM phone calls from Teri at the other end screeching, “Go outside! The Lights are dancing!!!” Other times our intramural broomball game would end at 12:00AM and rather than heading to bed like responsible students, we’d bundle up in cold weather gear and headlamps for a “midnight hike” to Smith Lake on the UAF trails system. There we’d build igloos, tackle each other in the snow, dog pile, and talk as we watched the Lights until 2:00AM or later. When I lived in my cabin off-campus, I sometimes stayed up late studying in the Honors House (with internet), which left me with a late night bike ride or walk home. It was all worthwhile when I could watch the aurora and belt out music on the short trip.

No, I really didn’t get that much sleep in my early college years, but it was totally worth it! I enjoyed watching the aurora in a few different places with great friends, but there was one thing I never really tried: aurora photography. What?! The nature photographer didn’t take any aurora shots over the course of 4 winters in Alaska? Nope. To be fair, I didn’t have a quality camera (DSLR) until my senior year, but I could have borrowed one or hung out with photographers. Although it seems like a shame my portfolio lacks aurora shots, my memories trump any pictures I could have snapped. (And that’s saying a lot, because I have seen dancing green, white, red, purple, and pink lights!)

During training in Pack Forest, I heard members of the Alberta CK-9 crew mention their hopes of seeing the aurora while in the field. Since we weren’t heading that far north, I wasn’t really expecting to see it – especially being in an oil camp. Luckily for the others on our crew, God was smiling down on their hopes.

After dinner on March first, part of our crew retired to a trailer to watch “Return of the Jedi” to complete the trilogy. Aurora forecasts were reasonably high, so other folks decided to drive to a more remote area with a clear view in the hopes of seeing the Lights later in the evening. Once I’d finished skyping with Teri and watching the Imperial troops get destroyed by ewoks, I joined 2 more aurora hunting trucks driving north.

Instead of trying to compare the aurora here to what I’d seen before in Alaska, I decided to enjoy the atmosphere of a “first” viewing. A perfect driving song – “Welcome Home, Son” by Radical Face – played as we followed the other truck down the dark road. “We’re rolling out of camp to hunt for the elusive aurora borealis,” narrated Suzie in her David Attenborough impression. Attentiveness to the sky filled the truck, and within minutes, we were rewarded with a streak of light low in the sky.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I really should have volunteered to drive, as Suzie was having minor heart attacks as the lights brightened and danced in the sky. 🙂 As we continued on, the truck that had left camp earlier joined us as we rolled north. “Did you see that explosive display a few minutes ago?” came through over the walkie talkie. Why yes, yes we had seen it, and Suzie had kept us on the road even though she was quite distracted!

Eventually we reached the corner of Pony Creek and Argo Roads, where there was a large clear area for watching the Lights. Different personalities and music preferences broadcasted themselves as we watched what we could see, but the Lights had died down as we’d driven. Even though rap and swearing hadn’t been present in my previous aurora viewing sessions, I ultimately decided maybe that’s what some people enjoy in a peaceful setting like a dark sky and soothing lights.

We moved locations to some lake, which reminded me of Smith Lake and also nothing like Smith Lake. The company was different, it wasn’t nearly as cold, and we had driven rather than walked there. Still, there was a lot of laughter, dancing to keep warm for our 2 hour stay, and light drawing. We had to wait for the Lights to come out again, but that’s part of the aurora experience. You can’t just give up hope and go back to bed!

I had my camera out from the start, and after remembering my Nikon D5000 hates autofocus in the dark, I switched to manual to get in business. I wouldn’t say any of these photos are fantastic, but it was nice to finally give it a try and put my tripod to use. Word on the street is that the Lights may be visible again later this week, so hopefully we’ll get another chance and I can try different settings. Here’s what I got this time:





























I learned a few lessons from that night:

1. Bring a headlamp, silly.
2. Figure out how to set the focus at infinity.
3. If necessary, noise (graininess) can be reduced later using Nik Software from the 2011 NANPA conference. Thanks, College Scholarship program!
4. Don’t worry about the photographs that much because honestly, they’re not going to magically make my millions… unless a howling wolf shows up in the shot… or a lynx catches a hare under the glow of the Lights.

 

And the last lesson?
Going to bed at 2AM truly is rougher than back in the day, but it’s still worth it.