I almost never enter photography contests, but I just made an exception to that rule for the Washington Post. One of the contest rules was the image had to be taken within the past 12 months. While submission of a birding image might seem obvious, I decided to provide a photograph taken last November of the Davidson Windmill and the Northern Lights. Here is the image I submitted. In my comments to the Washington Post I noted that I practice realism in my photography. Thus, this photo closely represents what I saw that night last November with my naked eye. I did NOT run up the ISO thereby allowing my camera to record something different than what was showing in the heavens above! 
Tag Archives: Northern Lights
Northern Lights Videos Over Suomalainen Kirkko (Historic Lutheran Church)
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 …
Video Links for Blog eMail Subscribers
- 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)
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)
