Tag Archives: Northern Lights

Northern Lights Videos Over Suomalainen Kirkko (Historic Lutheran Church)

Year 12,

I promised videos of last night’s Northern Lights display, and here are two short vids I took with my Sony A6300. These are NOT time lapse efforts, but photographed in real time which is a challenge for my camera. I wanted to show the colors and how the Aurora filled the entire sky. I have never seen such deep reds with my naked eye!

See my other post about this Northern Lights display which includes information about the historic church.

One still image …

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  • Just another night in northern Minnesota! (video link)
  • I turn the camera 360 degrees! (video link)

Lady Aurora Dances Over the Suomalainen Kirkko (Northern Lights at Historic Lutheran Church)

Year 12,

Oh my … wow!!! Last night was one of the best Northern Lights displays I have ever seen in my life, and even though these photographs were taken in northern Minnesota … for many of the images I was pointing my camera to the Southeast! I was able to see the reds very easily with my naked eye, and the Aurora Borealis filled the entire sky up to the zenith. Lady Aurora performed an amazing dance last night.

A few years ago I discovered the historic Suomalainen Kirkko (Finnish Lutheran Church) while out birding southwest of Duluth. At the time I remarked to myself that it would be a nice spot to watch the northern lights, but please understand I almost never drive south (in this case southwest) for a “dance session”. However, I knew clouds would be a problem from Duluth and to the north of my home town. Thus, I drove southwest. Uff Dah! Wow! Zowie! Last night was a night for the ages.

There will be a second post about this Northern Lights display when I have time to work through the videos which I took (real time, not time lapse). I tend to focus upon realism with my photography. Thus, these images represent very closely what I was seeing with my naked eye. I almost never see vibrant reds dancing across across the sky when watching the Northern Lights. However, last nights reds were everywhere.

A post with my videos is now published. Browse here.

Here is information about this fantastic church … Suomalainen Kirkko (Google Maps Location)

 

Northern Light s Real Time Video in NE Minnesota on March 8, 2025

Year 12,

35 seconds of last night’s Northern Lights display in NE Minnesota. This is NOT an enhanced time lapse. This is “real time” as I watched it at Boulder Lake a bit north of Duluth. The only post processing I performed was to remove color (i.e. reduce color saturation) and digital noise because I wanted folks to experience what I saw. Cameras tend to record the Aurora as having much more green than what we typically see in NE Minnesota. Finally, my camera is NOT an expensive device. It is a Sony A6300 (released in 2016) using 3200 ISO and an aperture of 2.0 on a wide angle lens. I try to focus on realism in my astrophotography (i.e. what I am able to see with my naked eye, as opposed to the camera which can see a broader light spectrum). My approach is not better than photographers who choose to record more light than me. Photography is art.

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And of course here are a few still images from last night’s dance by Lady Aurora. My only post processing edits in a manner similar to my video was to tone down the colors (remove green) and sharpen the photographs. The almost full moon (70% of full last night) often washed out a Northern Lights display, but last night it allowed me to better photograph the landscape. There were very defined shadows from the moon (my tripod, me, etc).

I knew from personal experience, that when the arc stats to get intense, the dance will normally start soon.

Lady Aurora is dancing!