Photography of the aurora is one way to “force” yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t “see” the aurora that often; they don’t leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking “ah, they’re alwaysout – why bother looking?”, which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights.

Blurb aside, I loved the shape of this particular April, 2010 display. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.

Every night I go out and witness this spectacle, I’m reminded of that slogan, and whole-heartedly agree.

One of the most beautiful nights of photography conditions I’ve ever had.

Now, I’m going to come out and say it, at the risk of the wrath of NWT Tourism officials:  the aurora this year has, well, sucked.  We had some beautiful shows back in September/October, but this has been one of the quietest November, December, and January shooting seasons I can remember since I’ve been here.  There’s been a few good nights, of course, but not the “every night” intensity that we seem to get some years.  Which is problematic when you have southerners like Greg coming up and you want to show them a good time.

Which means, of course, not worrying about it…and playing.  And who doesn’t like to play?

Last night was unseasonably warm, due to a low cloud ceiling, which meant two things:  first, we were able to bounce around the Yellowknife night for a couple of hours with the temperature no more than an afterthought, and second, it allowed us to get some shots of something I’ve never seen before.  As we were driving out Highway 3 outside Yellowknife and pulled over at the side of the road to shoot an abandoned barn, we happened something dark in the sky.  A cross, of all things – it’s shadow evident on the low clouds above -  created by a strong spotlight.  What make it cooler yet was that there was a hint of red/green aurora in behind the clouds, which were thin enough to make their presence known, but thick enough to serve as the backdrop to the cross.  Pretty cool stuff.

From there, it was a night of “painting with light” (long exposures using non-ambient light sources), and some ice road fun.  Good times, and I think Greg and his fiancee had a great night despite the cloud cover which kept any potential aurora at bay.

Okay, there’s something not right with me.  Well, make a few of us.  On most normal Saturday nights, especially around the holidays, people do Saturday night things.  Like clubbing.  Or movies with the family.  Or fancy dinners.  They don’t willingly head out onto a frozen lake with their vehicle late at night to hang out under the stars and the Aurora Borealis.  Did I mention at almost -40C temperatures…a temperature that would freeze the goody-bag off a polar bear?

On one of the coldest nights of the year thus far we willingly put ourselves in this situation for, um, photos (this is where the genius siren goes off, and you sit there thinking, “somehow I saw that coming”).  This is a photo blog.  I don’t write about Parcheesi.

Talented Yellowknife make-up artist Nicole Garbutt (soon to take Vancouver by storm) conceptualized an idea for a shoot and approached me about it close to 8 months back.  It involved some funky lip work, and, well, a night scene.  She envisioned around the open water of a Yellowknife lake.  Oh, and in the summer.  I was totally in.

Somehow the months went by, she moved away, the shoot disappeared into the lake.  Until she came back, we coordinated, and our nice, warm, summer shoot turned into January 2nd.  And the fore-mentioned -40C.  But after waiting 8 months for it to come together, we weren’t going to let weather come in our way.  We’re northerners, dammit.  The shoot was on, the model (Kim Woytuik, who now has my profound respect) willing.

Which meant that I had to somehow set up a studio on the middle of Vee Lake in conditions that stuff just wasn’t meant to work in.  Then again, that’s never stopped me before.  Still, it wasn’t without issues.  As I await my proper location light battery pack to arrive (next week or two), I sourced a generator to power my arsenal of studio lights.  Only it wouldn’t start.  Which started to give me a headache (nothing like telling your artistic director and your model that they spent all that time prepping for nothing), until I improvised.

Gone went the studio lights, out came my Canon flashes.  Which I don’t usually like using for stuff like this because I don’t have all the proper light modifiers for them (softboxes, umbrellas), they’re not as powerful as my studio lights, and, well, I’m just way more comfortable with the stuff I use every day.  I clamped a flash onto my studio umbrella, so I could at least diffuse and shape the light a little, and then triggered it remotely with a master flash on my camera.  Not what I had originally set out to do, but it actually worked.  And I didn’t have to piss off my model and director.

This shoot wasn’t about quantity – these exposures generally ran about 10-25 seconds long to bring in the moon-lit background details (along with a blast of flash on the model before she scooted out of the frame), and warm-up breaks after every three or four shots, but I think we got some pretty unique images.  The long exposures had the effect of creating a ghost-like appearance to Kim, as the background would be “burned” into the image through the course of the long exposure after she left the frame after the first second.  At first I tried to fight it through shorter exposures, but then I thought it was pretty cool, and actually preferred it.

So there you go; imperfect conditions with imperfect gear (actually, some of the most brutal conditi0ns I could ever hope to photograph in….I don’t care who you are, that’s f***ing cold) that we made the most of.  Kim was a trooper.

The following 17 images were taken in a 24-hour span…in mid-September!  That’s right – no snow!  No mosquitoes the size of golf balls.  Only sun, fishing, incredible displays of the Aurora Borealis, fantastic fall colours, and amazing aerial views.  Did I mention that we went out to check out the Aurora wearing shorts and t-shirts?  And again, that these were all taken within 24 hours?

Hawaii, you can have your lush green hills, tropical beaches, and scantily glad shore-mongers.  We have Northern Pike.  Big Northern Pike.  And even if I haven’t mastered how to hold the arm-length fish, I can still catch them, dammit!

So nevermind I’ve chosen to forget about the brutal moments for the sake of this post…or that this was a freak occurrence (t-shirt weather in mid-September), this is my blog and I can do what I want with it.  Come visit, and then blog yourself.

One of the things I have started conducting recently, after giving it thought for the past couple of “Aurora Borealis seasons”, are workshops on how to photograph this true wonder of the world.  Although I have been asked to teach on a variety of subjects related to photography, I’ve always been somewhat uncomfortable with the idea – I think partially due to the fact that I still consider myself a beginner in many ways.  What qualifies me to teach others?

With Aurora Borealis and night photography in general, however, I do feel some level of qualification…or at least comfort.  I live in Yellowknife.  Those who also live in Yellowknife know that it’s both a global “hotspot” to view the northern lights and, well, dark a boatload of the time.  You can’t live here and not feel compelled to head out some night and take photos.  I often felt compelled and then next thing you know I have probably taken at least 1000 images of the aurora over the past 5 or 6 years.  Tonnes of practice, and some shots I’m proud of….that’s my qualification for these workshops, I suppose.

So what do you do when you head out on a “Photographing the Aurora Borealis” workshop and the lights don’t actually agree with your well-planned workshop?  Improvise.  Demonstrate techniques of night photography, and how to capture a photograph in the night, generally.  You know how to do that, you’ll know what to do when the aurora dances their magic.

This is one image that I caught near the end of the night, when only my last two hardcore participants were still busy clicking image after image.  This is shot on the waters of Frame Lake in downtown Yellowknife, and is a 30-second exposure.  The “lamppost” lights?  A figment of my imagination, and not actual lights at all.  After pressing my shutter (or, more accurately, setting my timer to open my shutter to avoid camera shake), I walked along the edge of the water, which was actually quite dark.

I held a flashlight in my left hand, pointed towards the ground.  Over the course of the 30-seconds, this painted a nice “rope”.  The brighter lights?  I hand held my Canon 580EX flash in my right hand and set it off manually every couple of seconds as I walked.  Wasn’t entirely sure how it would turn out until I tried it, but I was really pleased with the effect.

I was pleased, and when I reviewed it afterward, I noticed a “bonus” – the Aurora actually made an appearance, as if they were waiting for the moment (and helped along by a 30-second exposure).  They weren’t bright, impeded by clouds, but it gave an ethereal effect as they glowed through the clouds.

I don’t have a title for this image yet…any suggestions?

We started out this year with a whole whack of cloud cover and then moved into a brutal cold snap – which generally means good Aurora due to clear skies – but I don’t know, it may have just been me, but night after night I would peak through my blinds (I think my wife thinks I’m spying on the neighbours) and see, well, nothing.

Not tonight.  Tonight I knew I was in for a show for no other reason than I have a new camera that needed testing.  Mother Nature didn’t disappoint – it was brief (I was out about an hour) – but beautiful.  And the camera?  I’m blown away with the clarity and lack of high ISO noise in these, which are virtually untouched out of the camera.  Hope you enjoy!