The Arora
Like many of us, holidays that we had planned for the Autumn of 2020 were postponed. Our Canadian adventure was affected by the covid for two years and we went out there at the end of 2022.
We flew into Calgary and then drove to Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise for adventures there. I have thousands of photographs, that I am still editing now, so there will be more stories to follow. We returned to Calgary and flew from there to Yellowknife. Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It lies on the north shore of Great Slave Lake. Middle of nowhere, but perfectly placed for the Northern lights. Most auroras occur in an oval band known as the auroral zone and Yellowknife is perfectly situated at the northern edge of this, as a result, if the sky is clear, there is a high chance that the lights will be visible.
We had planned our holiday around these lights and couldn’t wait to see them. It was life long dream of mine. Everyone in the city (but think less city and more large town) in the restaurants, shops and hotels have pictures of the lights, taken from their backyard.
We spent 3 nights looking at the skies, we’d leave the hotel around 10pm wrapped in several layers and drive for about an hour to get to the truly dark, dark skies. There is no light here even the windows at the gift shop/café are blacked out. However, it does not take long before your eyes get used to the dark. You can’t quite see, its more that you can distinguish between different shades of grey, the snow certainly helped emphasise the edge of the lake. The only light comes from the First Nation Tepees which are stunning and much bigger than I expected them to be. One of them contained several tables and chairs, a fire with some coffee, tea, hot chocolate and biscuits. We would go outside and get cold in the freezing night air (I still haven’t quite managed to find gloves that I can take photos in) and then head in to sit around the fire drinking hot chocolate to warm up before heading out again.
I knew that to photograph the lights I would need a tri-pod. I hadn’t been able to bring one from home (too heavy) so we bought a small monopod in Jasper, not ideal, because to photograph the scene in the dark required long exposure. Exposure, the time it takes for the camera to let in enough light to create an image, varies and in the middle of the night in the forest it takes some experimentation to get right. I started with 4 seconds which was too long and the images were much too bright. I played around with the settings until I was able to reduce it to a much more manageable 2 secs. More manageable, because the camera has to be held still if it’s to create a sharp image. So, three hands on the monopod (my husband has been roped in as an assistant, yet again) and two people holding their breath.
We couldn’t quite see the lights; our eyes didn’t manage to distinguish the colours of the sky in the dark. So, we’d spend time, scanning moving clouds with our phones and be absolutely delighted when we discovered the mainly green flashes, curtains and spirals of brilliant lights.
It was really exciting to be there and despite the cold, we stayed outside in the minus temperatures for as long as we could bear it. The village seemed quite big in the dark and there were many paths that you could follow that would show the sky from a different direction. I was always drawn back to the lake though and this view. I would head out to walk around the lake, over uneven ground in the dark. Just far enough to see the Tepees reflected in the water. While trying not to stumble over the rough ground. We’d hear something plop into the water. Something obviously unhappy that we’d wandered too close. (Never saw it, no idea what it was. Certainly way, way too dark to photograph).
On our third and last night and arguably the best night, conditions were absolutely perfect. Cold clear night, stars visible in the dark sky, snow on the ground giving a pale contrast to the dark still water and in the distance the sound of wolves howling. A real feeling of the joy for the wild and an experience that will stay with me forever.
I absolutely love this photograph, I love the Tepees, I love the reflections, I love the green lights in the sky and the odd star, I love the suggestion of snow in the corner. I hope that it suggests cold to you, but also the warmth and welcome light from the tepees. I hope you get a sense of wilderness. I also want you to hear the wolves that were howling around us. I don’t want you to hear that with a sense of menace but simply as an expression of the joy in an untamed, wild, natural world.
This is not currently available on-line but I have an incredible acrylic print in the gallery which is just awesome! Come and have a look for yourself.
