Aurora borealis over the Brooks range mountains and the James Dalton Highway, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24mm f/1.4L II, 8 secs @ f/1.4, ISO 1000
My employee and I are currently undertaking the colossal task of sifting through 40,000 images, removing those which are no longer relevant in the stock photo market, doing QC on keywords, upgrading all digital files to the latest LR3 processing algorithms, and cleaning the hideous dust demons. Did I already say this is a colossal endeavor? While it is painstakingly tedious, and a bit overwhelming, the end result will be a much improved series of files that will be going on a new website hopefully to be launched by the end of the first quarter. Amidst the robotic task, it is a walk down memory lane and I’ve rediscovered some photos well buried in the numerous folders. I thought I’d share one of these aurora shots taken last year. For those who live in Alaska and listen to radio broadcasting, it seems that weekly there are road closure and warning reports issued for various locations along the Dalton Highway (or Haul road). Winter can make for a treacherous drive at times. But in the dark winter skies, imagine cruising down the road with this northern view out your front windshield.
I took this picture at a small turnout, looking north to northeast, which is a common region of the sky where the aurora appear in these northern latitudes. The time was 12:26am in late March, just one of those sleepless nights chasing this magical phenomenon. I can’t remember the exact temperature but I recall somewhere in the vicinity of minus 10 to 20 degrees.
