Northern Lights
Denali, Milky Way, and Auroras
Denali momentarily came out from behind the cloud cover. Just in time for me to capture all three together.
A lot of stars and a little northern lights at 20 mile river, Alaska
Once again the aurora forecast looked good but ended up not amounting to much of anything. At least STEVE showed up so I didn't go home empty handed.
I was lucky to get so many awesome shots on this night. These images all were taken on the morning of January 3, 2020, near Cantwell, Alaska
The reds and greens were very vibtrant last night
Almost perfect reflection of the northern lights off of the ice of Knik River
My second night of Aurora hunting. The display was more vibrant than last night.
The clouds slowly crept across the sky. We were fortunate to see some of the spectacular show before the clouds completely covered the sky.
This image was shot from the banks of Granite Creek, AK. It is a beautiful location that is just past Sutton, AK
One of my daughter's favorite lines from her favorite movie Frozen. "The sky's awake, so I'm awake". I think that line applies to the sky near Sutton on Thursday night.
The auroras light up the edge of the mountains over Denali Park Village. Just on the other side of the mountains the lights must've been spectacular. UNfortunately by the time I got there the show was over. Luckily I stopped to capture this. I was surprised to see Denali Park Village so dark. This time of the year the hotels are serving the last of the tourist crowd. It would normally be filled with hundreds of people. Instead it was eerily void of people. No cruise ships this year has meant no need for hotels to open near Denali National Park
Like a shooting star passing through the sky, cars pass on the nearby highway leaving trails of light.
For the Anchorage area the Auroras were forecasted to have a strong display. Unfortunately the auroras didn't get the message. Here in Anchorage we a have a "hunker down" order put into place by the mayor. I went south to Twenty-mile river to try and stay close to home.
The amazing view from Denali Highway
The moonlit landscape right before the auroras really took off.
As the storm died down I tried out a little light painting with my headlamp. I liked the patterns in the ice. I used my headlamp to highlight the flow patterns in the ice while the auroras danced overhead.
After weeks of no auroral activity and cloudy weather we were fortunate to have clear skies and northern lights.
Finally got a chance to get out and capture a shot of the northern lights. Unfortunately the clouds didn't want to cooperate.
The entrance road to Eklutna Tailrace had a beautiful backdrop of northern lights and milky way.
Last night I drove over two hours to Talkeetna, AK. The lights weren't as good as the night before. Which made the over two hour drive back home seem even worse than it already was.
My final shot from my little road trip to Healy. I decided to stop at Denali viewpoint south on my way back home this morning. At thime you could just barely make out Denali mountain, but the clouds were in the way most of the time. I was really at this spot for the northern lights. Capturing the milky way in the same shot was a bonus
My first northern lights shot of the aurora season. I originally went out to shoot the milky way. Instead it turned into a northern lights shoot.
Aurora at Twenty-Mile river, AK
A pretty incredible night. I normally don't like to shoot northern lights when the moon is out, because the moonlight will usually make the auroras less vibrant and harder to see. On this night the auroras were easily outshining the moon. In this shot I had the moon behind me, casting the long shadows of the spruce trees behind me onto the foreground.
Very cool auroras last night. They were coming over the mountains in waves. It only lasted around an hour. It was around -30F with the windchill. If the show lasted any longer I probably would have frostbite, because I wasn't going anywhere until it was done.
The peak of the storm lasted about 20 minutes. It was a pretty amazing to see. Incredible to photograph.
Hunting for northern light, looking for breaks in the clouds. This image is the result of the thick clouds covering what would have been a spectacular aurora show. Added bonus was the windless reflection.
So much light in the darkness of night. The brillant glow of the auroras and the soft light coming from the milky way light the night sky over Talkeetna and Denali mountain.
Amazing spectacular sky over Sutton, AK
This image was shot from the banks of Granite Creek, AK. It is a beautiful location that is just past Sutton, AK
I took this shot just before Cantwell, Alaska. It was a night of trying to avoid the cloud cover. I originally intended to only drive to Cantwell, but ended up a few miles north in Healy because of the clouds.
The paintbrush stroke of God colors the sky for all to see.
Denali Highway night
The beginning of the unexpected northern lights show from 1/3/2020. As I climbed over the snow drift I was surprised by two things. The lights dancing over the ountains and the bone chilling wind that hit me in the face.
The forecast was predicted to be a Kp1. I had just planned on going out to take moonlit landscape night photography. Then this happened.
The northern lights looked like a a huge green fire in the sky.
No wind and large bodies of water make great reflections at the swimming hole on Knik river.
This is a 2 picture panoramic version of my last post. I am posting this one to show the scale of what I was lucky enough to see in person. The soft white glow on the left of the horizon is the city of Palmer. To the right of it is Butte mountain. I believe that the mountains along the right side of the horizon is Matanuska Peak. What looks like a field of white snow below the horizon is a frozen Knik river.
The milky way and the auroras crossing paths along Eklutna Tailrace. I was lucky enough to arrive at this spot just as the milky way lined up with the city lights of Palmer.
The city lights and northern lights mix in the night sky above Portage, Alaska
The open water where Tailrace meets the Knik river.
Memorable night on September 11, 2018. I was waiting on the banks of Twenty mile river for the Northern lights to appear. When suddenly STEVE appeared over the mountains. It slowly snaked its way across the sky until it reached the horizon.
Another image from the morning of 1/3/2020. At one point the colors were so intense that I had to reduce my camera settings by almost half. The moonlight really helped to light the landscape.
Swirl and flow of the northern lightsover the swirl and flow of the Knik River
Busy night on the Knik river.This was taken around 12:45am
Our aurora show was brief, but what we had was brillant. Then the clouds moved in.
The view of Knik River from Old Glenn Highway
This shot was the end to my night on 2/27-2/28. It was around 2:20am and the Northern lights were not showing any signs of going away. As I was getting ready to get in my truck I took this one last shot to capture the signage and northern lights. The light haze to the left of the image is a combination of Plamer/Wasilla/ Anchorage, Eagle river lights polluting the night sky.