everprentice
Senior Member
I grew up in a country where Aurorae are never seen in the warm tropical night sky. I always have been fascinated by this natural phenomenon and ever since I moved to the Northern Plains to see, and photograph, the display was at the top of my list. I spent countless frigid nights out with my camera and my trusty tripod. It's so cold the viscosity of the grease in the tripod head becomes high enough to make adjustments a pain. I spent hours outdoors, in my car of course, then stepping outside whenever I thought there was an aurora. However, for someone who never saw one before you don't really know what you are looking for unless the display is so strong it stretches from the horizon to the zenith.
I had the chance to see it the first time with my wife. It was a mild winter's night when the display was apparent they're like rivers of fireflies dancing in the sky. It was both eerie and majestic. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. Though the display didn't last long and was low in the horizon, we were ecstatic.
I spent more nights through the past years driving out the farm roads late at night trying my luck on getting a good photograph.
Finally one summer night, when I least expected it, I found myself standing alone on a farm road with my tripod, camera and a bunch of lenses photographing aurorae. This photo is a composite panorama of more than 5 photographs. I used my D90 and my 35/1.8G to capture this awesome bow.
Divine. The one word I can describe the display. To paraphrase Ansel Adams, I was there just in time "when God's ready to have somone click the shutter."
