"Apostle Spectrum" Photo Prints

Aurora Borealis Photography

I’m still in disbelief.

On May 10th, several MASSIVE coronal mass ejections were predicted to hit earth. Usually when the forecast looks that good, it’s a setup for disappointment. But all the other signs were aligning. Clear skies in Apostle Islands National Park and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, were I wanted to go chasing. It was a Friday night, so I didn’t have work to worry about work the next day. My wife was game for taking our 7-year-old. It was on.

Yet despite massive expectations, this night exceeded them.

I saw things I thought I’d never see in my lifetime. Purple aurora bright enough to shine through 100% cloud cover while it was raining. The entire sky pulsing with electricity while the Northern Lights charged back up. Red, purple, green and every possible combination of those colors in the sky.

Even though I was chasing alone, it was an incredible community experience. The 100K person aurora chasing community I was a part of was collectively losing their minds. My friends and family were texting back and forth with updates. I ran into several other aurora gazers out there at Gordon Dam, Port Wing, and the Apostle islands wandering around in disbelief.

And then the next day on social media - everyone had seen it. I saw pics from Key West. Texas. California. Even downtown Chicago! It was everywhere! It’s hard to imagine this kind of cultural moment happening pre-phone or pre-social media. Sometimes the stuff that happens on the internet is toxic. Sometimes tech has a dark side.

But for moments like this, it’s perfect.

The second night, lights were also predicted, so after grabbing a couple hours of sleep post-sunrise on Saturday, I drove over to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and hiked the 3 miles to Chapel Rock for sunset.

It was just me and three college friends who had decided to camp out that night. It reminded me of the first backpacking trips I ever took with my college buddies, just the three of us in the wilderness. We’d meet the old backpackers and either think they were a little weird, or a little cool.

Pictured Rocks is where I fell in love with the outdoors. I’ve been there a dozen times with friends, with my kid, and by myself. And now I’m the old weird guy wandering around the woods.

The show in Pictured Rocks wasn’t nearly as strong, but how could it be? The measurements for the Friday night show hadn’t been seen in over twenty years. But it was gorgeous, peaceful, and a lot less frenetic than Friday.

At 11:30, I decided to hike back to beat the rain. About halfway back, I noticed what I thought were clouds moving in. Seconds later, they rushed over the whole sky, and the brightest aurora I’d ever seen started flashing and undulating and pulsing above me. Breathless, I just watched through the tree branches. Partly because I wanted to see it with my eyes first, and partly because I knew a picture would be tough with all the branches criss crossing.

Five minutes later, it was gone. An hour later, the sky was empty of aurora.

The chase was over.

A note about these images. I’ve edited the brightness, contrast, plus denoised and sharpened them. I didn’t touch the color, saturation, or vibrance. I wanted the color to be what my camera saw.