Here is a gallery of some of the many Aurora photographs that I have been fortunate to create. To steal from Ansel Adams, “Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter.” Five times this year, all in Michigan, the Aurora put on incredible shows. Longer, shorter, more muted, more intense, always different, but always spectacular. Of the thousands of images here are some from each night. Notice how similar and different each are. Within just a few moments, they transform into different shapes and colours.

May 10th, Crystal Lake, MI. Because of the predicted cloud cover, I drove about 90 minutes east. As soon as it was dark, the lights showed up, and were very strong for about an hour. As I was shooting. someone yelled out about the display straight over head (pic 1). This is a coronal hole and they are pretty rare. The clouds accent the lights, and a group showed up on the pier to enjoy the show. One of my favourite pictures and the reflections are always a treat.

October 10. With the predicting numbers so high, there was no doubt about going out to see the lights. Being 30 minutes from Empire, I dedicated on the D H Day barn, hoping it would not be too crowded. Only a few other photographers were there to capture the Lights. As soon as it was full dark, the lights were immediately visible over the barn and the farm house. The moon provided just enough light to light up the white barn. A spectacular bonus corona showed up directly overhead. I made it over to catch the last of the lights in Historic Glenn Haven and the antique fishing boat.

And it’s not over yet! More to come this year?

All images were taken with either a Nikon Z8 or astro modified Z6ii. All were taken on a tripod, shutter speeds of 6 to 10 seconds. Either a 20mm 1.8 or a 14-24 2.8, wide open with ISO between 400 and 800 generally. All settings are manual mode, including focussing.

May 11, the next night. Watching the predictions, I headed out to a local beach. Since the local news hyped up the possibility, the beach parking lot was packed at 10PM. Setting up the camera, I could see a dark rainbow and the camera showed a faint green glow. Catching a quick update on an app about midnight indicated the KPI moved from 5 to 6. Finally, about 12:30 the sky. blew up. And for 40minutes, it was spectacular. Getting back to the car after 1AM, there were only a few cars left. Not too many stayed out long enough to enjoy the show. You can see the progression of the light show from left to right. The rainbow bridge was a smudge to start the night, but soon blew up into a bright magenta fury. Even the large moon setting in the distance could not overtake the lights.

September 9th. The Perseid Meteor showers were active, so I headed out to shoot them, along with a possible Norther Lights show. Once again, a long wait, followed by an unbelievable show. Somewhere around 3AM, I caught the first (and only) meteor. It happened to show up in the middle of an incredible Aurora.

October 7. Spending a week in Suttons Bay, MI, near the 45th parallel, the Lights came back. It was pretty nice to be able to shoot some images from the cherry orchard in the backyard and from the driveway of our rented house. Seeing the MW in the very darks skies, I decided to take a quick shot, only to find a SAR (Static Aurora Red). SAR is a fairly rare phenomena, which presents itself in the opposite direction of the Northern Lights. Charged particles show up as a stationary red streak across the sky and not visible to the naked eye. But once again, the camera captures it beautifully.