Random Thoughts in My Head

We were forecast to have some snow by Saturday morning so I figured that between that and the shorter nights we have now that going out Friday night would be not very productive.  Instead I opted for hoping for a showing I could catch from my deck again, which happened.  Unfortunately for me my neighbors have dedicated their smoking area to be 10 feet away from my front door and our deck, so I was driven inside after just a short while.

I did get a few photos, though, and the effect from the clouds was interesting.  My stars are not very sharp, but I’m thinking that is an effect of the hazy clouds.

Downtown Fairbanks, shooting with Sony a6000 and a Rokinon 12mm lens. ISO 800 (massive light pollution downtown) using Aperture Priority.

   

Once I take the melatonin to help me sleep there’s only chasing from the deck left to do, so this was it.

Downtown Fairbanks, shooting with Sony a6000 and a Rokinon 12mm lens. ISO 800 (massive light pollution downtown) using Aperture Priority

I attended my aurora group’s potluck last night.

It was officially called “AAA SSS: Alaskan Aurora Addicts -Soups, Stews and Salads Potluck” and the idea was to get everyone in the Fairbanks area together at a location where we could get out of the old, talk, get to know each other a bit, share some food and then hopefully get outside to get some moon and/or aurora shots.

I also happened to luck upon getting my hands on a 55-210mm telephoto lens at the last minute, so even though I had missed the Blood Moon from the previous night’s lunar eclipse due to some travel arrangement, scheduling and cloud cover issues, I was excited at maybe getting a picture of the full moon with a little bit of details.  Just a little bit of detail was all I wanted, so I was hopeful even though I didn’t have much time to research what settings to use.

The AAA admin arrived well before 10pm to set up.  We had lots of food between just the four of us, plus we set up tables, put out small tea lights on the tables and used some strings of red lights around the perimeter of the room so that once we wanted to take photos we could turn off the interiors lights, but still be able to see enough to not run into tables and chairs.

The potluck was scheduled to officially start 10pm and we waited until 9:55 to start eating.  There was so much good food to eat, plus desserts.  We sat around and talked quite a bit, running outside to try to get the moon.  Shortly after the official start time Sharon showed up so she could learn and asked a lot of questions.

Then an hour or so later Jen and her mom Sally showed up and we got to talk to them for over an hour as well.   They brought this delicious smelling salmon chowder.

Potluck photo picture.  Joyce, Sally, Jen, Sharon, Pattie, Mary, Candy and Zach

Although a faint green band was seen on Ronn’s cam around 1am, the lights never did show up for us as we ended up being clouded in.  We left just about 2am.

Playing with a telephoto lens:

Attempts at moon shots.

Skunked by clouds!

If you go back far enough in my blog you will read about the time I could not find the top of Murphy Dome.    The entry is here and is one more shining example of how my adventures turn out.  “Always an adventure!”

Yesterday I decided to try to find it and scout it out in the daytime in order to go out that night since the conditions were supposed to be good for aurora.  After driving over 25 miles from my house, I (finally) found the top of Murphy Dome!

I stopped at a couple of places to take pictures, thinking I would head back later that night and wanted to know where I should try to shoot from since there are power lines that run though the middle of what is otherwise spectacular scenery and it’s hard to know the power lines are there at night unless you’ve seen them in the daylight.  So I tromped though snow, following moose trails, finding some kind of animal tracks and taking pictures of the amazing White Mountains to one side of the dome and of Denali in the Alaska Range to the other side.

After posting in my aurora group about the good aurora conditions and the fact that I had found the top of Murphy Dome and was therefore excited about heading up, a few trusted local photographers made comments about the fact that the combination of the lights of the radar station and the potential crowds that headed up there would most likely make for less than lovely pictures or a great experience.  That coupled with a bit of a headache that I was still fighting from a combination of being out so late on Thursday night and fighting the urge to cry all the time left a damper on my spirit. Instead of heading out I watched Ronn’s cam and saw a bit of green band, but I never saw lights from my house so I gave up. I went on the porch a couple of times and my camera picked up a tiny band, but I could not see it with the naked eye and I just didn’t feel like heading out.

To be fair to the aurora, my house faces south mostly and there is a street light on the north side so the aurora needs to be bright and pretty high in the sky for me to see it.

Images taken with a Sony a6000 and a Rokinon 12 wide angle lens.  I’m pretty sure I should have swapped out for at least the kit lens since everything looks so much further away in the pictures than they did in person.  If I recall a conversation from the aurora chasers group, in general the eye sees at 50mm so to bring something closer, like the mountains, would need a lens with a larger number than 50 and 12 is definitely not in that category.  Live and learn I guess.

I had the privilege of going on one of Ronn and Marketa Murray’s aurora chasing tours last night. The lights decided to make us earn that tour name, plus there were some clouds, so we drove to Nenana first then double-backed and ended up at the pipeline viewing spot in Fox. I got some nice shots and learned about Aperture Priority and a bit more about my camera.

We spent quite a bit of time driving, but it was nice to not be the one driving, to be able to look out the window and enjoy the scenery, and to get to know Ronn, Marketa and Pattie a bit more.  There was a rather funny retired man named Art, and a mother/daughter (I think) who were pretty quiet most of the time, but they seemed nice and like they were having a good time learning.  Everyone else but me had been out previously with R&M so the group seemed comfortable talking, at least to R&M.

We first went to Nenana which is about an hour away from Fairbanks.  We drove down by the bridge and the first place we scoped out was not what Ronn wanted so we started to move closer to the bridge when the tour bus got stuck in the snow.  R&M hopped to action, first thinking they might be able to just rock their way out, but eventually getting out the chains.  Once the chains were attached, Ronn backed the tour bus up ALL THE WAY BACK to where we have first stopped, which was quite a remarkable task considering the area was not lit very well.  Then we moved forward to an area that was safe enough to take the chains off and continued on our way to finding a good spot by the bridge.

Once I got my tripod set up, Ronn came over to teach me a bit about my camera, since he has the same model in his collections of cameras.  He used a lot of words that I think I should know: metering, white balance, etc. and showed me how to affect those settings on my camera.  He went through the menus and explained things quickly, but he was also very clear.  And just like that I learned about how to shoot aurora in Aperture Priority last night. Pretty neat stuff! I just need to remember about changing the white balance and the <something about a number from 3200 – 45000 here> setting for when the conditions change. I’ve figure I’ve got some reading and _learning_ to do this summer!

After a bit of time taking pictures of the bridge and the lights, the aurora slowed down and all but disappeared.  Clouds were also becoming more problematic and the ever vigilante Marketa got on her phone to find us some clear skies.  The decision to return to the Fairbanks area was made and we settled in for the ride home.

As we got closer to town, we had to decide on where to go.  Ronn asked Marketa if we should do Murphy Dome or Cleary Summit, aka Skiland.  After a bit of discussion with her furiously checking webcams, data and weather reports, she said Cleary Summit so off we went!   As we got closer to the pipeline viewing spot, noticing that it was after 2am already, the lights started to just barely pickup and sensing that the end of the show for the night, as well as the tour, Ronn asked if we wanted to stop at the pipeline or keep going.  After hearing a few stories of my adventures in aurora chasing during the trip, I chimed in with a previously used and somewhat humor inducing phrase of “PULL OVER NOW!”

So we pulled into the pipeline viewing spot, gathered our gear and set up.  The lights were faint at first but they picked up a small amount to give us some decent pictures.

Of note, it was a balmy 30-40F between the two locations and though I had brought gear for colder weather, I never even put on my jacket.  A fleece jacket with snow pants and a pair of light-weight/liner gloves was plenty to keep me warm.

The Murrays are super nice and I’d highly recommend their tour for anyone looking to get out, see the lights, learn about shooting them and be well cared for, whether you are a local or a tourist: http://www.ronnmurrayphoto.com/NorthernLightsTours/TourOptions/Winter-Aurora-Alaska

I’m still tired. I don’t know how people do this night after night after night after night and then get anything done during the day!

Nenana Bridge.  Sony A6000. Aperture Priority, ISO 1600

Pipeline viewing spot in Fox. Sony A6000. Aperture Priority, ISO 1600

 

Post processing playing with contrast.

Post processing playing with contrast and the Big Dipper.

Scoped out Creamers Field to test how the trails were during the day on Tuesday, March 24. I was also testing out one of my new camera backpacks and took some test pictures. I’m still learning about photography and honestly think aurora photography is easier than daylight or action photography is!

Lesson for the day: APERTURE PRIORITY does not work for daylight photography when you think it is on AUTOMATIC. Turns out I just had the camera on the wrong setting and most of my daytime photos were blown out and all bright with no details. Also I realized I can’t see ANYTHING on my LCD screen without my glasses and in blinding (daytime) lights it’s even worse. SO I added a pair of glasses to the backpack to keep in the pack. And will remember the difference between AP and Auto, hopefully.

Minor post processing done in irfanview. Also first time to add some type of watermark/logo. I set up this facebook page to put my photography images on instead of using my personal account.  That way I don’t have to deal with granting public permissions and hopefully I can phase out using the personal account from anything ever again.

    

 

Always an adventure when I go out. This time one of the two cars got stuck and had to be towed out. For once it was not me!

It was supposed to be a really awesome show again on this night.  The night before three of the other ladies in our group had gone to a location that had a few too many people and they also had a run in with some less-than-positive aurora watchers so tonight the ladies were looking for someplace more secluded and yet still dark.

Our little group consisted of Mary, Pattie, Bree, Candy and myself in two cars. After some discussion we decided to head out to shoot at  Marys friend’s farm out on Chena Hot Springs Rd; she also happened to be driving the lead car with two passengers, Pattie and Bree, and I had Candy in my car following them.  Once we arrived at the driveway of the farm, I watched as Mary started to drive down the road that was supposed to be plowed.  I only got a few hundred feet before I decided I was go to back out before my car got stuck while Candy and I simultaneous agreed we could walk in.  However the lead car, a SUV-styled vehicle that was bigger and heavier than my little Freestyle, got stuck.

Thankfully Candy and I were (still) at the end of the road when a tow truck went whizzing by, just minutes after several attempts to dig the car out had failed. The driver said he needed to get fuel for his truck before attempting a rescue and the closest gas station was 20 miles away; we knew we had some time before he would get back so we took photographs for awhile. Candy and I hiked up the non-plowed road from the road to take shots since the aurora was already dancing.

Pattie, who carries a gun,  along with Candy and Bree hiked up to the farmhouse,  Mary was staying with her vehicle and close enough to see the road and I felt like I should stay closer to Mary since 1) I didn’t want her to be alone and 2) I also carry and wanted to be sure she was safe.  I found a nice spot just a bit away from her where I could still see her and her vehicle, which was turned off during the wait for the tow truck.  We got some shots and yelled back and forth about the amazing colors that we were seeing at just 9pm: “Did you see those purples?!” “Yes!!” And so on…..

After some time Bree came back to the car and was keeping Mary company so I had headed back towards the farm.  As I got closer to the house I could hear Pattie and Candy off in the near distance, but I had heard Bree mention an airboat among other things that were on the property that she had photographed to Mary, so I was trying to find those things and figure how to take pictures of them.

About an hour or so after we arrived the tow truck driver Stefan, from Romania, shows up to help us get Mary’s car out of the snow.  I noticed there was noise and/or lights so I headed back towards the car to see the rescue in action.  It turns out he got the tow truck STUCK TOO! I tried to get pictures of the attempt since the bright lights from her vehicle and the headlights/moose-lights from the truck made it hard to get pictures of the aurora.  Trying to take pictures with blinding headlamps shining at the camera is much harder than you might think!  I got one picture out of three different attempts to get a picture and it’s still fuzzy.  But there you go: Mary in her orange coat standing next to her car with the tow truck behind her. I like her coat a lot and have considered getting the same one!

Eventually the tow truck got out, then the driver used the truck to pack the snow down to make a path for her vehicle to get out and then he backed her car out LIKE A CRAZY MAN, but it worked!

Pattie and Candy had joined us by this time and we all jumped into vehicles and headed to the new location where we were treated with the most amazing light show I’ve ever seen.  Granted I’m new to this, but based on other reports for more seasoned chasers, it was definitely one of the best in decades or anyone’s recent memory.  The lights were so fast that I just watched them for much of the time since I knew I was not using the right settings to get such fast lights.  (I’ve learned about Aperture Priority since writing this and can’t wait for a chance to try it out with fast lights!)

Chena Hot Springs Road, images taken between mile 25 and mile 36. Fairbanks, Alaska.  Taken with a Sony a6000 and a Rokinon lens. These are some of my favorites, the rest are in my gallery.