Out of all the things I was expecting to see when we went camping on Cortes Island, the northern lights was definitely not on the list. We actually didn't know anything about it until about an hour before sunset. I got a series of messages (miraculously still on 5G out in the booneys) informing me of the impending aurora show from friends who were getting ready to head to the beach to watch.
Out of sheer dumb luck, we were out in the middle of nowhere 3 ferry rides and 1 speeding ticket away from the city. Of course, Cherry Dude had packed his favorite stargazing, bird chasing (and every other purpose) lens, the 14mm. He stomped out our robust campfire in record time and we peeled off from the campsite to the beach. I can't even point it out on a map if I tried, but it was a sandy peninsula that connected a lake to the ocean, perfectly dark and open to the night sky.
At first I thought we were facing a partially cloudy sky, but one long exposure proved that it was actually the faint start of the aurora show that was about to commence. What we couldn’t quite distinguish with our naked eyeballs was actually a technicolor dance of ionized atmospheric particles.
I don't think I can quite put into words how magical it was to see pulsing lights ribbon across the sky at the same time bioluminescence sparkled in the water around us.
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| Canon 5D Mark III | Canon EF Wide-Angle 14mm f/2.8L II USM |
