Kodiak 9/27 - Lights

December 23, 2022

I truly hope you are all doing well and staying warm during this winter storm. We are plenty cold at 14F but our house is tight, well-insulated, and comfortable. Having grown up on a farm/ranch, I assure you I have a deep appreciation for such comforts and count my lucky stars on these days. We are fortunate. There is a meme circulating on the internet about those that complain about high food prices needing to go help the farmer and rancher in their chores the next few days. A few of today's entitled brats would do well with a month or two on the farm. Note that Kodiak is a warm 36F this morning as I write this note. The Pacific Ocean does an incredible job moderating temperatures on the island. You hear Alaska and immediately think of the frigid temperatures of inland cities like Fairbanks sitting at -26F this morning. Amarillo is pretty tough at 5F but Fort Knox is taking it on the chin at -6F. Enough weather...! Stay warm.

We are into the last day of our trip to Kodiak. The gap between 9/24 and 9/27 had a few activities including a fishing trip on their boat. The weather that day was far from perfect and we chose to fish in a new location. We caught fish but kept only a single pacific cod for dinner that night. It was raining on our return trip to the dock so I don't have a photo of the fish. I know... no photo, then it didn't happen. OK.

9/27 was our last non-travel day in Kodiak (early flight on 9/28). About 2 or 3 AM, Lauren comes knocking at the door to our bedroom. The Northern Lights prediction showed possibilities for Kodiak. It takes a pretty significant storm to get the lights far enough South to see in Kodiak. She said she could see a glow over the mountains indicating we might see them is we head North of city lights. You don't get a lot of opportunities in life so you better take them when you get them. We bundled up as the temperatures were cold but not bitter. The best news was no wind or clouds! We drove to Mill Bay and could see the light dancing on the horizon. It was not the spectacular, light-up-the-sky event of northern Alaska, but the lights were there. Lauren stated this was the best she had seen them also. We set up the tripod and started taking a few shots. The good news is that the camera can better absorb these dim lights than our eyes. Most of my photos were 4 - 10 second exposures. In published northern lights photos, the exposures are much shorter - about 1 second - with much brighter lights. We take what we can get and enjoy the time together watching an amazing sight so many people never see.

I will preface these photos with a small disclaimer. I am not an expert at editing such photos. They are not simple given the very low light at high ISO (6400).

This is a photo straight out of the camera. It is hard to convey how the lights are moving during this 4 second exposure. There were a ton of stars visible that early morning. The light down in the trees is a house out on the point.