After returning to the cabin at 11pm after a very long but fine day of instructing, driving and dinner making, it seemed like a good idea to get in some photography before ending the day. There is little or no personal shooting while teaching, but the night sky was interesting and it can be very peaceful and relaxing shooting at night....
Retrieving my camera and tripod and heading to the shoreline, there was an amazing glow of lights over Pyramid Peak. It was very bright and beautiful, but my first thought was the military was doing some kind of odd testing. Part of the display was a giant beam of white light that one normally does not see in these latitudes.
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| Aurora Borealis, Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park. Byron Will, ©2016 |
Rushing to the shore, the light was changing subtly every moment. It was quite spectacular. One detail that was missed was not fully tightening one section of the tripod leg sufficiently. While taking an exposure with the waves pounding right next to me, I heard the dreaded sound of my camera landing in the water. It was so dark, it fell over without me even seeing it fall. The cable release was just long enough to give a tug on my hand.
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| Aurora Borealis, Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park. Byron Will, ©2016 |
Completely upset and tired, the camera and lens were promptly tested (comatose), so were placed in a warm oven to (hopefully) revive. By the next morning (with not very much sleep for me), they came slowly back to working order. A big sigh of relief!
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| Aurora Borealis, Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park. Byron Will, ©2016 |
