Auroras

Photographing the Aurora Borealis from the Poker Flat Rocket Range near Fairbanks, Alaska

I took a friend (later my girlfriend and now my ex-girlfriend) along with two married friends to Fairbanks, Alaska to see the aurora borealis. One of the married friends had a contact at the Poker Flat research range, where they have a heated aurora observation dome. My three friends were able to snuggle up in the dome all night, watching the auroras unfold.

I, on the other hand, wanted to get cool photos, so I stood out in the Alaskan cold all night with my cameras, both medium format and 35 mm. It was cold as hell but I didn’t care. I was stunned. Every picture that you see here was shot by me in two magical nights at Poker Flats. The laser pictures were taken when high-powered research lasers, one green and one orange (very faintly visible next to the bright green beam in these photos) were fired into the auroras the second night.

A wolf came out of the woods on the second night, apparently wanting to check out me and another photographer. She just wanted to look at us and get our scent, I think. I wasn’t worried. Animals always seem to leave me alone. Do I have good spirituality or bad odor? I lean toward the second hypothesis. Anyway, she just circumspectly examined what we were doing on her home turf, and then she slid back into the woods. She never made a sound. Those were magical nights.

Go to the Using My Photos page on this site for instructions on how to obtain high-resolution versions of these images from me. I don’t charge money for my photos, but I do require a photo credit in your end-product in exchange for the use of my images. Key words: Aurora images.

Aurora 01

Aurora 02

Aurora 03

Aurora 04

Aurora 05

Aurora 06 with green and orange laser beams

Aurora 07

Aurora 08

Aurora 09

Aurora 10

Aurora 11

Aurora 12

Aurora 13

Aurora 14

Aurora 15 (with Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the Polestar)

Aurora 16 (with Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the Polestar)

Aurora 17 (with Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the Polestar)

Aurora 35 mm neg R1F22

Aurora 35 mm neg R1F23

Aurora 35 mm neg R1F24

Aurora 35 mm neg R1F25

Aurora 35 mm neg R1F36

Aurora 35 mm neg R2F10 with laser beams

Aurora 35 mm neg R2F14

Aurora 35 mm neg R2F15

Aurora 35 mm pos R3F12

Aurora 35 pos R3F17

Aurora 35 mm pos R3F20 (with Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the Polestar)

Aurora 35 pos R3F21 (with Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the Polestar)

Aurora 3 mm pos R3F25

Aurora 35 mm pos R3F29

Aurora 35 mm pos R4F19 with laser beams

Aurora 35 mm pos R4F20 with laser beams

Aurora 35 mm pos R4F28

Aurora 35 mm pos R4F29

Aurora 35 mm pos R4F36

Aurora 35 mm pos R4F37

Aurora 35 mm pos R5F05

Aurora 35 mm pos R5F07

Aurora 35 mm pos R5F08

Aurora 35 mm pos R5F33

Aurora 35 mm pos R5F36

Aurora 35 mm pos R5F37

Aurora 35 mm pos R6F03 (with Ursa Major (Big Dipper) and the Polestar)

Aurora 60 mm neg R1F05

Aurora 60 mm neg R1F08

Aurora 60 mm neg R1F14

Aurora 60 mm neg R1F15

Aurora 60 mm neg R1F19