Month: June 2015

Missed seeing the aurora borealis again…

or did you?!

aurora borealis
aurora borealis

The job of the artist is to create mystery.

Francis Bacon

Did I ever chuckle when I came across this quote. Busted! Read on to see what a secretive lot we photographers can be!

This is my longest blog post to date BUT if you have ever been disappointed by NOT seeing the northern lights when others have raved about or captured fabulous images of them AND you live below 50 degrees latitude…read on!

If you can tolerate the ground-work laying information in the next couple of paragraphs without your eyes rolling back in your head I will then get to why you may have seen the aurora borealis and not even known it!

Trending this past week were photos of the aurora borealis dancing in the night skies over North America and other parts of the world as well. There are people FAR more adept at explaining what these light displays are but basically it begins with a CME or coronal mass ejection. This is a cloud of gas ejected from the surface of the Sun. When these winds of charged particles collide with Earth’s magnetic field it excites those atoms causing them to light up.

For viewing purposes the important thing to know is the global geomagnetic storm index or KP number and it ranges from 0-9, with 9 being the highest. Using this number enables you to see if there is a possibility of seeing the aurora in your location. Spaceweatherlive.com is a wealth of information on this number and how to find your value.

Back to the photos…

This week I saw some very beautiful images of the northern lights shot during the early hours of June 23, 2015. The KP index was predicted to be between 7 and 8 and for my viewing purposes in Northern Idaho, I need between a 5 and 6 to give me a good chance of seeing lights. The evening did not disappoint and along with the greens I captured with my Nikon some lovely spiking pinks dance across the night sky along the edge of my pasture. I am fortunate to live in a place with dark skies and little light pollution which greatly improves the chance of seeing these.

You might have noticed that I did not say that along with the greens I saw some lovely spiking pinks.

What my eyes saw when I walked outside was this..

aurora borealis
aurora borealis

but I knew that what I was seeing was the northern lights because of a chance discovery that I blogged about in March here.

I suppose it is the job of the artist to create mystery but I have read too many comments from people bitterly disappointed after getting up to witness this altogether infrequent sight at my latitude to NOT provide an explanation and hope to those who have seeing this on their bucket list.

I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, latitude 53 degrees, and recall seeing the aurora borealis in all of its colorful glory. After many years away in more southerly climes we moved north once again to Idaho, latitude 48 degrees.

I was puzzled and disappointed that while others were out in my same area capturing beautiful northern lights shots…I never once saw them but I was looking for color. After my March discovery thorough research into this showed me that the human eye uses rods and cones. In the retina cones perceive color, work in bright light, and are used in the day. Rods perceive light and shadow and are used at night. Camera sensors in the DSLR’s do not have these limitations so they capture the full range of color and light.

The simple explanation is as you go below 50 degrees latitude, the northern lights are weaker and will to most people be viewed more as shifting patterns of light in the white to gray range and NOT the colors that the DSLR is capable of capturing. I would expect that eyes differ so possibly and depending on KP strength some people might still see some color. Travelling further north will diminish the differences between what your eyes see and what the camera captures.

The next time the KP index is high head out away from the city lights and enjoy searching the night sky and if you see dancing patterns and sheets of light you will have watched the aurora borealis!

 

Drawn to the simplicity…

of this rural farming scene.

20150611-DSC_5197-Edit
farming

Simplicity is the glory of expression.

Walt Whitman

I would have loved the opportunity to move around and set up the perfect composition for this shot but sometimes you just come upon something that grabs your attention.

With the rapidly sinking sun I had but a moment to get this shot and something about its simplicity appeals to me. It’s not a grand bridge, a lone tree or a craggy mountain backlit by the sun; some of the things I would ordinarily seek out for a sunset.

It’s just the end of the day in a farming community where the days are long and success depends on the vagaries of nature.

Scenes like this one remind me to be grateful that I live in a country with vast, beautiful open spaces where every inch is not covered in concrete. As the light faded and the temperature cooled I was left only with the sound of grains rustling in the faint breeze and small creatures settling in for the evening…

sim·plic·i·ty
[sim-plis-i-tee]
clear and uncomplicated.

When I look at his expression…

it makes me smile.

20140726-DSC_9222-Edit

To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless march.

Susan Sontag

I think that one of the most challenging niches in photography would be that of the portrait photographer. There is an immediacy to the shots and certainly an extra layer of difficulty added simply by the challenge to produce shots that are pleasing and flattering to the subject. I much prefer the candid shots.

Those that know me know that if my camera is not already at hand, it is very, very close! That often gives me the opportunity to steal a quick, relaxed shot like this one of a friend’s husband when they came to visit.

I began thinking about this after a conversation with another photographer friend. While on a recent trip she opted to leave her DSLR out of the mix and use her phone camera because she felt that she was missing too much.

It was an interesting thought and one that I have considered from time to time but the anxiety of not having at least the bare minimum of gear with me fills me with dread. Also in my thoughts were as someone who photographs every day and uses multiple lenses, I am able to dial in a quick shot almost at the same time that I am raising the camera to my eye. How long would it take before those combinations of numbers did not come so easily to mind when going for that quick, in the moment shot?

I leave you with this thought…they say that we have five senses but like me, has your camera become an additional ‘sense’ for you?

Passing judgement…

based on appearance.

barred
barred

Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.

E. B. White

I have always had a passion for dogs and have lived with them for most of my life. Photographing them can be challenging but when it comes together naturally it’s a beautiful thing!

Several of the breeds that I have owned frequently land between the pages of Breed Specific Legislation. That poorly thought out, often contentious piece of appearance based legislation that targets a growing list of dog breeds purely on how they look. If your breed isn’t on it, don’t be too complacent, once in place it has the capability of quietly growing.

As a photographer and owner of Staffordshire Bull Terriers, I am very conscious of the images that I share of this breed; always scrutinizing them for what someone might ‘see’ in them and choose to tagline as vicious. She could be running joyfully towards me with that ‘grin’ that all owners of this breed recognize but to the uneducated or the one with an agenda, publishing that image might just add fuel to the fire when taken out of context. It is unfathomable to me that there are cities in this country and in the one to my North, where should I venture into those places with this dog, she could actually be confiscated. Did I mention that in England they are called the Nanny Dog, they are especially good with children and that this particular dog lives with a fluffy white kitty?

On this day she sat quietly watching me as sunlight streamed through the wooden blinds and calling out a quick ‘stay’ I reached for my camera which is always close at hand. For me it was a moment that captured the look of prejudice and each time I see it I am compelled to remember never to judge a book by its cover.