While working through a number of photos from my recent trip to Scotland, an opportunity to photograph the Aurora Borealis at an intensity seldom seen had me out with camera at a local viewpoint, Pilkington Overlook, north of Guelph. To say it was a special is an understatement, it was possibly a once in a lifetime experience with the Kp predicted at 8 and clear sky conditions.
I managed to get back from a trip to visit our sons in Eastern Ontario and scramble to prepare for the possibility of a very late and possibly very long night. Arriving at the spot I had selected, it was evident that a crowd had gathered and cars filled the parking area spilling out to the nearby roadsides. When I saw a couple walking to there car I asked if there was anything to see and they indicated that there was but they were going to check out another location. So I continued to grab a camera, tripod, headlamp, had and some gloves to find a place to set up.
Although it was much earlier than I had expected, the show had already started. There was subtle aurora activity across the horizon from NW to NE. Over the course of just over an hour, the performance built to a stunning climax before fading away ...
Here is a screen capture of all 72 RAW files from the shoot, all without any enhancement, the way the camera captured the scenes with consistent exposure settings. It shows the progression of activity from 21:41 to 22:46 ... it's near unbelievable.
At it's peak, I was astounded by what was being captured on the camera sensor. No, it didn't look like this to the naked eye and for an explanation of why, I direct you to this resource so I can focus the discussion on and showing the images I made.
Over the past couple of days, I've been eeking out some of the images I made, mostly those leading up to the crescendo of colour that occurred where I was just after 22:00. The colour really started to come on just before 20:00, with red becoming as prominent as green in the sky. By 20:10 it was all around, ahead to the north, to the west, to the east, overhead and even behind me. It was simply overwhelming, even with the naked eye.
I've attempted to select a set of images from the 3 dozen that I've processed to illustrate the progression of the event during the period I was photographing. Here they are in sequence ...
Find me on FB, Insta and flickr to follow along as I post the complete collection of images from this amazing event.
DJE
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