February Lights

It seems a rare occurrence when the skies are clear and the lights are out but tonight it happened.  Unfortunately it seems the part of my tripod that screws into my camera is missing so I had to use my $6 tripod made for a point and shoot camera.  Lets just say it wasn't working very well.  I did manage to get a few photos from around my house and the best of the bunch is below.

 

 

 

Now to find the missing piece to my tripod or look to purchase a new one!

 

Lights and a Machine

I got out tonight to take some photos of the northern lights.

They were light and only the long exposures would bring them out.

I was standing in the middle of Tellik Inlet.  The ice was cracking and booming. 

I got out there using my new toy.  It's a 600HO ETEC Renegade Backcountry Ski Do.

!!Zoom Zoom!!

The Moon & Venus

The Moon and Venus were very photogenic last night.

Moonbow

The light of the moon reflecting through some high cirrus clouds to make a moonbow or a half corona.

Got lucky last night and happen to be out and looked up at the right time.

The weather has finally changed and it is now bitterly cold out.

Moon, Juipter and Lights

I'm trying to get motivated to get out and do some photography again.  The lights were dim tonight but there was still the opportunity for some nice photos if you knew where to look.



Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Dorset Sunset

With the dark comes the colors of the sunsets.

Light and Dark

It's finally dark at night and the lights can be seen again.  They weren't very bright and exposures were in the 30+ second range.  Hope we get some action on the Sun and the sky's stay clear so there is a nice outburst before the cold weather is back.

I love chasing the lights.

Cape Dorset at Night

I couldn't get the illusion to work in the photo but last night the crescent moon looked huge over the Hamlet.

Faint Lights

Still not dark enough to get good photos of the northern lights but I just can't wait.  The CME that was supposed to hit earths magnetic field last night didn't happen but there was still some bright enough to be barely seen through the twilight.  Hope this seasons turns out to be a good one for Northern Lights.

This was the best of the bunch.  I think this was a 20 second exposure.

Rainbow

Heading to poker Saturday night and saw this faint rainbow in the sky. 

The Moon

One thing about being south is the ability to see the moon again. 

The best photo I've taken of the moon so far.

Sun Fun Revisited

Last night just as the sun was setting I went out to get a last photo of the Sun.  Sorry about the power lines in the photo.  It might be the last sun we see for a few days because a blizzard is supposed to start tomorrow and stay until Saturday or even maybe Sunday.

Sun Fun

With all the ice crystals floating around in the air it is making for some nice atmospheric optics.

Pretty Parhelions (Sun Dogs)

This would have made for a cool photo but between the blowing snow, freezing hands and laying in the snow this was the best I could come up with.  Still kind of neat.

There was a 46 deg halo with this but it is impossible to get it in a photo without using a fisheye lens.  The 46 degree halo is classed as a rare optic.  Maybe someday I will invest in a fisheye lens.

The Lights Continue

It was a nice night for the Northern Lights Wednesday night.  I may have solved the problem with my camera by using an ISO of 200.  Haven't seen the red streaks and heavy pixelization of my photos at that setting.  Given the results below I would say it's working.  The exsposure settings on the first few is only 10 seconds to give you a feeling for how bright they were. 

Bright enough the snow was reflecting the green color.

This line of lights was just along the line of the clouds.

Kingait mountain in the background.

A line of lights just starting to creep across the sky.

It showed potential but quickly fizzled out.

I always like to end with the lights and Orion. 

Lights On

I missed the best part of the Northern Lights because I was mesmerized by the dancing and colors. Still I did manage to get a couple of good photos.

Depending on how you view things this could look like a dove or a screaming skull.

Looking straight up at the fading Northern Lights.

We don't have any trees here so I used a power pole as a substitute.  The ice fog was coming over the mountains causing the rest of my photos to show the reflection from the Hamlet lights.  That is what is causing the red to the left of the photo below.  You can see the clouds distorting the Northern Lights in the photo.

The Sun Show

This is always my favourite time of the year in the North because the Sun is at the perfect height throughout the day to create the displays in the photo below.  This photo was taken at around 1:15 pm today as the sun was skirting along the horizon behind Nipple Mountain.  There was an incredible show this morning but by the time I got the snowmobile running, myself dressed and the camera up and running I had missed the sight.  Maybe tomorrow I might get lucky.  More to hopefully come.

A Sliver of Moon

What is really neat is the sky in the opposite direction looked like a green sun was rising.  Should be a good night for northern lights.  Might go out and give the camera another try.

Some Northern Lights

I'm not having any luck getting good photos of the northern lights this year.  It's either overcast or I miss my opportunity to get them while they are bright.  It also doesn't help that my camera seems to have been damaged by the cold.  Photos taken in daylight seem to be okay but when the camera gets cold I'm getting a lot of artefacts like weird colors and lines showing up in the photos.  I'm the one to blame for that happeningand it's nothing a new camera won't solve.  Donations are accepted and appreciated.

The photos below are taken from my walk around town.

I love getting Orion in the photos.  The lights had faded to almost invisibility at this point.

I had to hide in the shadow of buildings to block as much of the street lights as possible.

Looking towards Kingait and Nipple Mountain.

The lines I'm talking about can be seen in the photo below if you look close.  This is after a short 6 second exposure and the last photo taken.

Once again I don't need much of an excuse to purchase a new camera.  :o)

I've Returned

Sorry for my long absence form blogging but my heart just hasn’t been into it lately. But I should be back into the swing of things now. I haven't even been keeping up with everyone’s blogs for the last 2 months so I got tons of reading to catch up on.

I did get out Saturday night trying to take some photos of the meteor shower but had no luck. Either I was pointed the wrong way or between photos. I still got to see a few nice meteors even if I did strike out on getting a photo. I did get a nice photo of Orion and some very dim Northern Lights before the clouds closed in.  

When I first started taking photos at night in the depth of winters here I didn't know that the camera should be left in the bag until it gradually warms up. If you don't do this moisture can get inside the camera and mess things up and that is what may have happened to the camera. If I go longer than 15 seconds exposure I get a lot of red bleeding throughout the photo and lots of noise. Looks like a good excuse to purchase a new one! The old one still takes good photos during the day and will stay as my back up camera. Won't get a new one until after Christmas.

I'VE BEEN MISSING THE BLOGGING COMMUNITY!

Pretty Lights

I made it out last night to snap a couple of photos of the northern lights. I didn't get out soon enough and only got a few shots of the disappearing lights. We still have clear skies today so hopefully the lights will be back tonight and I will get better photos. According to Space Weather there should still be some tonight.