The past week has been really great aurora showings due to some great conditions for G1&G2 level storms with KP6-7, but now that I’m working and taking a couple classes at UAF – CTC I’ve stayed in since I just don’t function well without sleep.
The aurora forecast looked decent for Friday (minor G1 with Kp3 expected) and though that’s not the amazing levels the week prior had had on, I planned to head out on Friday night. I picked up my friend Susan and we were planning on driving out to Delta Junction to try to get some reflection shots, but the sky light up before we left North Pole so we decided to head out to Chena Lakes instead.
We first went to the top of the dam overlooking the flood plain project at the end of the road where I got the first few photos. It was a bit chilly due to the wind which was also causing some rippling so we decided to move after being here for just a short bit. We finally ended up at a pavillion that looks out to the island and got some neat reflection shots, plus I noticed something swimming in the water and the fellow near us used his flashlight to look at it and told us it was a muskrat! I was still fighting with my camera settings at the point so I didn’t get a picture of it, but I’m fairly sure he did.
It seems like each season I have to relearn how to shoot for the season; this time I had some trouble with my settings and finding the ability to change them so I had to do a bit more post-processing on the first few photos than I normally do.
