Living in the north, we are gifted with regular displays of the northern lights.
Our usual night time sights in the sky look mostly green like this photo taken Oct.30.
We had a once in a lifetime lights show on Tuesday November 11 like many other places did. It was clear skies here in Grande Prairie and it was an earlier evening display as opposed to our usual late night aurora activity. We had been at Chris’s brother’s house for games and supper and were driving home around 8pm. As we were leaving the city, on our way home, we could see cars pulled over to the side of the road taking photos of the sky. There were the usual greens that we would see but there were also these deep pinks visible with the naked eye. I took a few photos from the car but I wanted to get home so I could take some photos there before the northern lights dimmed.
When we got home, Chris headed inside and I asked him to turn on as little lights as possible. I was impatient for the light on our shed to turn off. It goes on when it senses movement and stays on for ten minutes. This first photo is with that light still on but I love the way the colours look behind the house.
After that I took a few with trees silhouettes.
It was so clear that you could see the sprinkling of stars through all the colour.
It was like we could see the sun’s rays bursting through the colour.
Every direction I turned, I could see different shades of pinks and greens.
I turned back to the house to take another couple photos.
The pink had swirled into a dark spiral above the house; its climax before fading into the night.
As I took this last shot, the colours had begun to fade in the other parts of the sky.
By 9:30, the sky had faded back to having some greens but the pinks were gone.
I am lucky that my iPhone takes great photos in night mode. I have been on the fence about buying a good camera for taking wildlife and landscape photos. The northern lights is another thing to add to the list for future photography.
I was glad we left for home early that night or we may have not even seen the glorious colours in the sky. It was a beautiful display and I am grateful to have been able to enjoy it.
What a spectacular show you witnessed!
Great photos of the Northern lights, Corinne!! Wish we could have seen them before we left. Will Chris use your photos for one of his spray paintings?