Northern Lights
A single band of light arches over the fog covered city of Anchorage, Alaska. This was shot at Glenn Alps along the hillside
The last shot I took after a long night of avoiding the clouds. I was able to capture my last glimpse of both the milky way and northern lights before the clouds blocked my view. I used the lights from a passing vehicle to paint my foreground with a quick splash of light. It was 2am. The temperature was 2 degrees. I had a long drive to get back home.
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 aurora was very faint when I first arivved at this location. The almost full moon lighting up the night sky didn't help either.
Predictions were pretty good for a big aurora storm for most of this week. The auroras clearly didn't get the memo. I spent two days chasing the northern lights. From my home in South Anchorage I drove 65 miles to Hatcher Pass on Wednesday. No lights. On Thursday night I drove north 219 miles to Cantwell. The reason being that I was trying to outrun cloud cover moving in from the south. Result very minimal aurora activity. I did manage to get this shot before the lights faded away and the clouds moved in. I like this shot because the edge of the clouds had just reached my location. High thin clouds creates a cool halo effect around some of the larger stars. Really making the big dipper really stand out.
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.
Shot was taken just outside of Cantwell, Alaska. This northen lights arch hung in the air for the longest time. It eventually started to fade. That's when I knew it was time to head home. The haziness in the sky is the edge of a storm front moving in from the south
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
Night view of Denali mountain and the northern lights. The largest mountain in North America is trying to hide behind that lone spruce tree.
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
Night view of Denali mountain and the northern lights. The largest mountain in North America is trying to hide behind that lone spruce tree.
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