Capturing the Moment

  I still can't believe it. We had a couple of very clear nights last week as we sailed the Safari Quest through Southeast Alaska. Not only did that bring some beautiful sunsets, but one night it brought something even rarer, Aurora Borealis!    To see the Northern Lights you need a combination of factors. You need a clear night sky, darkness, and a perfectly timed release of charged particles by the sun. There are a few apps out there that are getting better at predicting the chances and intensity of the northern lights, however just getting a clear night sky is a task in itself here in Alaska. It is the rainforest, which means low hanging clouds almost all the time. Plus it is still summer, so the days are long, and the nights not very dark.   Our night deckhand shocked me with a midnight wake up call for northern lights. I lept out of bed, threw on my clothes, grabbed my camera and bolted up on deck. I was amazed further at the intensity of the lights. The...

Vermont House lit up and reflected   I haven't spent much time in Vermont during the fall season. It was something I was hoping to remedy after seeing all the pictures of the changing of leaves and crisp weather. Now that I am here at the end of October I can say that fall is definitely a nice time to be in Vermont.    What I didn't expect was downright warm temperatures this late in the year. This, combined with clear dark nights, gave me the idea to head outside and do some star photography. I was hoping to see some meteors since this was during the Orionids meteor shower but only one shot across the sky during the photo shoot. Star Gazing in Vermont   Using a long exposure (30 seconds), I was able to start capturing the milky way streaking across the night sky. A little bit of light pollution and some low wispy clouds added a bit of color and drama to the sky. Then as I walked around the pond down below the house I got the idea to include the reflec...

   In my Alaska experience I've only ever seen the Aurora Borealis in late April or September. Those months are the very beginning and the very ending of our Alaska cruising season. My boat this year is running British Columbia trips in those months and Alaska only from late May to late August. So I had accepted the fact that I wouldn't see the northern lights this year. But here you go, northern lights in early August!      This was at 12:30 in the morning when the sky is at its darkest. During the peak of the summer season it is still too light to see the northern lights even at this hour. But each day gets a little shorter so if everything works out...a solar storm, no clouds, a dark night....and Aurora that reaches this far south...then the impossible suddenly become possible. Thankfully we have someone up 24hrs a day on the boat to keep everyone safe...and to make sure we don't miss anything like this!  Check out all my other encounters with t...