Calgary

This weekend I was in Calgary. I didn’t have a huge amount of time for photography but I did managed to capture a couple of shots in varying weather conditions. The first image is taken during a wet and windy evening and the bottom image is from the following night with -5 temperatures. I’m used to being prepared for my shoots but this wasn’t the case for this trip - I was freezing! Calgary is flat land with a sprawling suburbia. The annual population increase is more than anywhere else in Canada. The middle image is taken in Airdrie, north of Calgary and shows one of the many new communities which is springing up to accommodate the influx of people.

Vancouver Aurora

I promised myself the next time we had a high reading on the aurora forecast I would try and catch them in Vancouver. Tonight it was KP6. The highest I've seen it. Happy to say I found them and they even danced!

Now featured in both the Vancity Buzz and the Huffington Post!

Downtown Vancouver and the North Shore mountains.

All aboard the Aurora Train. Barnet Marine Park, Burnaby.

All lit up and waiting for Christmas

In the middle of the night and somewhere close to nowhere, I found this house all lit up and waiting for Christmas. It felt eerie seeing as there was no car on the driveway or sign of life inside. It looked so unreal. All that was missing was the echo of Christmas music filtering across the fields.

Freezing Aurora

I check the forecast almost every day, especially on cold and clear days. This afternoon when I looked at the forecast it was a level 3 which usually means there's little chance of viewing the Aurora. By 9pm reports were coming in from as far south as Minnesota and the reading was up to level 8. So we grabbed the gear as fast as we could and headed out on the hunt.

It didn't take us long to find it! There were great displays tonight but the most interesting part for us was hearing the water freeze around us. Often we are in the middle of nowhere, in the dark and on our own, so hearing giant cracking filled us with impending doom until we figured out what it was! I've not shot in temperatures this cold since I was in the Arctic and it's a whole different experience. Great night!

Freezing night at Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.

Freezing night in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.

Freezing Aurora. Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.

Under the Moon

As nice as the full moon is I am always sad when it’s that time of month again. For a photographer it means the sky is bright and the number of stars visible in the sky is severely reduced. This is when it’s time to get creative and make a feature out of the moon instead.

Moonlight reading at Pitt Lake, British Columbia.

Road to Alaska

Searching for the Aurora leads me on many roads to remote places. I recently went through images I took on the road to Alaska from Vancouver and was surprised at how many I had overlooked on my first pass. The Stewart-Cassiar and Alaska Highway has so much wildlife to offer, albeit a little bumpy. I was fortunate to see many bears along the way. Apart from the bears it’s a long and isolated drive - just how I like it.

Just a hint.

Some nights the aurora forecast suddenly surges from level 2 to 8. This happened last night and we raced off to the lake to see what we could find. Of course level 8 doesn't mean a strong show in Vancouver and the almost full moon was against me. Never the less the Aurora came out for a moment and danced a little to offer these almost daylight shots.

Aurora Borealis over Pitt Lake, British Columbia.

Porteau Cove Provincial Park

The team headed off along the Sea to Sky highway on a promise of level 4 activity. Alas we had no luck chasing the Aurora, instead the Milky Way and a sky full of stars. As much as I like these shots I drove home disappointed. Next time Aurora... we'll find you!

Pitt Lake

13.10.08

Having mostly shot the Northern Lights in Alaska, I'm making an effort to catch as many of the elusive lights in British Columbia as I can. Pitt Lake is the first destination and I headed over with a small group of Aurora Hunters. Despite the doubts and protests from the group, I could see them visible in the sky as soon as we got there. It wasn't until 12:30am though that they really began to dance for us. A great night out with the team and we can't wait to go again.