10/16/10 Saturday

      For over 10 years, now (!!)—I have wanted to take pictures of the aurora, reflected off of a lake.  (!!) :) :) So, I drove about a hundred miles, southeast of Fairbanks, on the ?Steese? Highway—and waited.

      At first (for some unfathomable reason), I was in a terrible mood.  However, as the aurora brightened, so did my outlook.  :)

      These pictures didn't come out at great as I'd've liked (lights on the lake—didn't expect those, have to be higher [in elevation], next time. . . .)—but they are really cool.  :) ;) One can see (the lights of) an airplane, captured in the first exposure.  Also, the green and red "fiery pillar" was barely visible to the naked eye.

      10/17/10 Sunday

      Coming home, late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, I walked out of the garage . . . and saw the aurora dancing overhead.  :) :) I had a (strong) feeling, that this was going to be just "a flash in the pan," and that I should just stand there and enjoy it, whilst I could—but duty called, and I started getting set up.

      As I expected, by the time I got set up . . . there was little left.  :p :( But the shadow of the tree on the house is pretty cool.  :) ;)

      2/4/11 Thursday to 2/5/11 Friday

      *FINALLY*, conditions were right for some nice aurora (prior to this, it had been one of the worst aurora viewing seasons EVER).  So, we took off to a nice spot I know. . . .

      Normally, when I'm trying to take aurora pictures, and cars keep driving by, it annoys me to no end . . . and this was no exception.  ;) :P However, capturing all those head- and brake- lights in the some of the pictures, was actually pretty cool.  Sometimes, crappy photography makes for the coolest pictures.  :p ;) Something strange, though: In two consecutive pictures, there are lights in the trees in one picture, that weren't there in the previous one—car (in a otherwise not visible driveway)?

      Then, we took a break, where we watched American Zombie.  :p :P When it was over, we saw aurora over Fairbanks—which unfortunately quickly "evaporated."  :p :( I was able to snap off a pic or two, of what remained.  Of note, these are the first two pics I was able to take, at the "new spot" [for auroral photography] that I found—not even a mile from my apartment. . . .

      2/5/11 Friday

      Coming back from a bonfire (Bonfires *RuLe*  :) ;) ), I saw some aurora, and pulled over in parking lot of the Pipeline viewing point.  I was sick as a dog, and both the camera (low battery?), and the tripod weren't cooperating—but I was able to get set up, and take two very nice pics.

      :) :)

      3/1/11 Tuesday

      I knew there was supposed to be aurora—but I could see any, the previous evening.  However, the next day, when I was taking Herr Fart Nugget (~dog) O-U-T, I looked up and. . . .

      (!!)

      I ran in, and got set up.  Of note, the first picture I took, was one second before 6 AM.  :) :) -I almost caught my landlord's brakelights, in one of the photos, as he was leaving for work.  My landlady couldn't believe that she didn't see these ["the lights"], as she left.

      3/9/11 Monday

      Conditions were positively ideal for aurora (The magnetic polarity of the solar wind had been negative for days.  (!!))—so I was "primed and ready."  :) :)

      The BRIGHT, overexposed object just to the right of the house (in two of the pics) is THE MOON.  For years, now, I have wanted to get a really good shot of the aurora, showing over Fairbanks, at the bottom of the picture.

I'm still waiting.

      :p :P

      ( :) ;) )

      Two things a little strange, about this set: One, at first, I didn't think these pics . . . were all that great.  It wasn't until after peeps were "oohing and ahhing" about them, the next day—that I realized what I had.  Also, for perhaps the first time EVER, I didn't get all that excited, about the fact that I was taking picture of the aurora.  (!!) I mean, rewind my life by 10 or 15 years, and I would've thought that I had died and gone to heaven. . . .