It’s safe to say this once-in-a-lifetime trip only happened because of my friend James Studarus (@stardustimages). He has made fourteen trips up north in the past three years specifically to photograph the Northern Lights. His adventures have brought awareness to many people about the magical phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis, including myself. Ever since I saw the incredible photos he captured, I knew I needed to join him on one of the adventures. The seed was planted, and he began teaching me about chasing the Northern Lights. Based on the 27-day aurora forecast, we kept an eye out for days for a high KP index, meaning the Northern Lights would be the most active. There are a number of places that fall within the aurora oval including cities in Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Alaska. For my first trip we chose Fairbanks, Alaska since it’s the closest place and the cheapest flight from LAX. Plus, James knows the area very well (this would be his sixth trip there). We first had our sights set on a 4-5 day aurora swell in October, but as the day approached, the weather in Fairbanks ended up showing overcast skies, which would ultimately cause us to postpone the trip and wait for the next active aurora swell. Our patience paid off since the following month showed a strong four-day swell with perfectly clear skies the entire time. We booked our tickets two days before the flight and began preparing for the cold!

 

 

Something I didn’t consider about Alaska in the winter is that the days are extremely short (only about six hours of daylight). The sun also stays low on the horizon, which means sunset lasts all day! It’s pretty cool to be able to shoot beautiful golden hour light all day long. On the first day, I took a number of drone flights with my new Mavic 2 Pro around Fairbanks to scout the local territory.

 

 

 

 

(11-02-18): Chena Road / Angel Rocks Trailhead:

The first night began around 9 pm at Angel Rocks trailhead. It was the first time really being tested against the cold. I layered at least four jackets but still wasn’t comfortable at first. However, once I got a taste of the Aurora, I almost completely forgot about the temperature. My first sight of the Northern Lights was a subtle green glow on the northern horizon. Once I set up my camera and took a few long exposures, I began getting really excited about how much better it looked in camera than in person. I crouched down low in the snow next to this ice-cold river to create a nice foreground shot. I chose a few tripod locations and left each one to take 30–60 minute time lapses of the star trails while we warmed up in the car. Being a seasoned aurora veteran, James was hardly impressed by the strength of the aurora on our first two nights. The first night he only took a couple of photos while I took thousands as a newbie. James was starting to worry that there would be no real heavy aurora swell on our trip. Luckily, we got what we were looking for the third night.

On the drive back home to our Airbnb, we noticed the lights picking up a bit, so we pulled off the road to check them out. Here are a few of the photos I took on the first night, as well as a time lapse from Chena Road.

 

 

 

 

 

(11/03/18) – Pedro Dome Rd.

On the second night, we parked on the side of Pedro Dome Road. Before the aurora came out, we hiked up a snowy hill to look for good trees to use as our foreground. I used the opportunity to teach James about capturing star trails using an intervalometer. We each set up a time lapse and laid down in the snow to relax. Somehow it was actually comfortable, which could be because the dense forest protected us from cold air drafts. I later realized that is when my flashlight fell out of my pocket and became the first item lost on this trip. A few hours later, the lights started to pick up, so we shot on the road and over the edge of the lookout. Once again, I had two or three cameras clicking time lapses.

The primary camera setup for the majority of my shots was a Canon 5D mark 4 with a 20mm f/1.4 Sigma lens. I specifically got the Sigma lens right before this trip because I wanted something wide and incredibly fast (meaning good in low light). Next time, though, it would be nice to have something even wider than 20mm (maybe the Sigma 14mm 1.8?) since certain shots were hard to capture the entire scene without panoramas. My secondary camera setup was a Canon 5D mark 3 with a 24mm f/1.4 Rokinon lens. This is also a very good low-light setup, but not quite as sharp and crisp as the 20mm lens setup. Lastly, at certain times I set up a third time lapse on my Sony a6500 with a 12mm f/2.0 Rokinon lens. This camera setup was responsible for some of the behind-the-scenes time lapses that show James and me running around with our tripods.

 

 

 

 

(11/04/18) – Delta Junction

Night three was by far the strongest aurora we had. At around 7 or 8pm, we were killing time playing pool at a local bar, thinking that the lights wouldn’t pick up until later on. When we stepped outside to leave around 9pm, the lights had already been cooking for a while. Feeling excited and anxious, we raced to our first destination, a spring-fed lake which was the only non-frozen one we found nearby. The lights were popping off! I finally understood why James was disappointed the first two nights. We were literally smothered from all sides by Northern Lights dancing around. You could look in any direction and be smacked in the face by aurora. It was UNREAL and incredibly energizing. I felt like I couldn’t shoot fast enough. The best part is that it never slowed down either; it remained strong all night long. We spent at least three or four hours shooting at the same location, barely walking around but still finding a variety of compositions. One thing I didn’t realize about the Aurora was how fast it moves. It literally changed shapes in the blink of an eye, so you had to always be ready! That also means you can shoot from the same location all night and continue making different photos.

 

 

 

In my hasty excitement, I came unbelievably close to falling into the lake with BOTH of my cameras. First, one of the only shitty hiking boots I brought literally had the Vibram sole fall off, so not only was one foot frozen at all times, but it also was incredibly slippery. I was traversing along the riverbank to look for new shot locations holding my two camera setups with one tripod in each hand (carrying a total value of almost $10,000). Second, I had no headlamp on as to not ruin other photos, and I was navigating by the dim light of the aurora. In my haste, I saw what I thought was a bank of pebbles, so I jumped down to it. Turns out it was actually a floating piece of ice, and I slid all the way out to the edge of it, mere inches from the water and was unable to catch myself from sliding because my hands were full of cameras. Amazingly, the ice didn’t break on impact, although I did hear slow creaking. I stood there frozen and terrified, thinking if I moved at all I could fall through. I nervously called to James to come grab the tripods out of my hands and luckily slid my way back to safety without any harm done. Needless to say, this was WAY too close for comfort. The near tragedy definitely slowed me down a bit.

 

 

 

Below is a time lapse of James and I slipping around on the ice and taking countless photographs while the northern lights dance around in the sky above us. It’s crazy to see the wide variety of shapes and forms that the aurora can take over time. I’d also love to hear an explanation of why in some places it creates a pulsing flicker as seen in the lower right corner of the sky.

 

 

 

 

(11/05/18) – The Yurt

This was one of the coolest Airbnb’s I’ve ever heard of! We stayed in this yurt our last night in Fairbanks with a cozy fireplace, which made it easy to go outside and shoot. It’s also located on a husky sled dog farm, so we got to play with all the friendly pups in the morning. As you’ll notice in the first photo below, the aurora was not very strong by the fourth night. To create better images, I ended up compositing the northern lights shots I got the night prior into the sky above the yurt (Before/after example is seen in a slider below).

 

 

 

I took over thirty time lapses throughout my trip. I would love to assemble them together into a short film/abstract montage. Let me know if you think that’s something I should do! Additionally, a producer from the National Park Service came across my time lapses on Vimeo and reached out to me about using them in one of their projects. Now a number of my time lapses will be used in a video installation at a museum in Alaska! Very exciting and completely unexpected.

After the trip was over, I announced a fun print-giveaway contest among my followers. I asked them, “How many total photos did I take on my Alaska trip?” The correct answer was just over 20,000 individual photos, which includes all of my time lapse files. I had three or four people out of over 100 guesses close enough to win prints. After the giveaway, I filled my online store with northern lights photos and offered holiday print discounts. Most of my aurora photos are available as fine art prints, so check out my print store to see the full selection. Also use coupon code AURORA15 at checkout for 15% off! Reach out to me to learn more about acrylic, metal, canvas, or framed prints.

 

 

Well, heading back to reality sure was weird. My week in Alaska was so surreal. Experiencing the Aurora in full blast is like looking back on a dream, almost like it didn’t really happen. Now I also fully understand James’ addiction to chasing it. I’m already dreaming about my next Northern Lights adventure… I’m thinking Iceland?

Extra shout out to James for being my tour guide on this adventure, and sharing his lengthy experience on tracking the Aurora. He planned out an incredibly efficient and memorable trip for us. Visit his website to learn much more about the aurora and how to chase it yourself.

To see the complete album of images from this trip, go to AlexNyeArt.com/Alaska.