The universe is full of an endless amount of amazing sights and astrology has taken my attention in the last few years.
From watching the Big Dipper rotate around the sky, to straining my eyes seeking out a shooting star, I love to spend hours just lying under the stars and attempting to photograph what I see.
Although I do not have a professional lens that can capture galaxies layered on top of each other because of the fact that the lenses cost more than a college semester, I still attempt to do my best with what I got.
My love for it started when I saw a huge influx of photos being posted on social media of the northern light and star patterns across Canada. I fell in love with the colours and the mix of depth and simplicity that astrophotography offers. Trying to find new photography projects is always on my mine and I saw this as a challenge.
Set out for the night I packed my car with too much equipment to drag through the dark, grabbed up a warm cup of Tim Horton’s coffee and picked up an old friend to find the darkest place possible.
With a little research done on how to compose a night time star photograph, we searched for a lake to use as light reflection to help show the northern lights. Driving up to the lake we noticed that other people had already made camp all along the sides trying to get the lucky chance to see and the finicky lights that dance through the sky.
Sad to say another attempt was classified as a loss since they did not come out in the time that we were there. But of course the cruel actions of mother nature refrained us from see them. 3 a.m. was when the lights were shining bright though the sky, mixing around the clusters of stars and mesmerizing the minds of spectators. Just not mesmerizing my mind. Which is most important.
As much as I love seeing photos of the sky’s across North America I would have loved even more If I was able to have some of those photos in my collection. I have to say nothing is more frustrating than leaving a night with no sight of the northern lights and waking up to see thirty people saying how amazing they were with a flood of incredible photographs.
But there will be a time for me to experience the beauty for the first time. Maybe I’m in the wrong place with the wrong people? Maybe it’s meant to be shared with someone special? Or the strongest possibility to mask my frustration, maybe I made mother nature mad because I haven’t been the nicest to her.
Whatever the reason I will still hunt out every once in a while to try and experience the northern lights. In the mean time I would say my astrophotography has improved and I’m not complaining with what I’ve seen and what I have captured.