20/01/2026
Last night was right up there with the aurora of May 2025. We were lucky enough to get the alert just as it was building to a peak, and spent a dazzling hour pointing this way and that, exclaiming at the awesome spectacle. At its brightest the stars themselves were almost totally hidden.
We're very lucky to live in a part of the Highlands with very little light pollution - just a couple of miles from an official dark sky park, so the night skies are phenomenal every clear night. So I decided not to waste any chances driving to another location, and just grabbed the camera and ran out to the field behind the house.
Getting the camera to focus was the greatest difficulty, and it required a bit of trial and error. Eventually I was able to get it dialled in on this tree and then it was just a case of waiting for the most dramatic moment with the shot composed on a tripod. The sky was so bright that I was able to shoot with shutter speeds as quick as 1s. This is actually important when photographing aurora. A longer the shutter captures more light and gives a brighter image, but the aurora does shift and move, so you don't want it too long then as it loses a lot of the texture and shape. As I watched huge curtains sway and pillars spear down, I wanted to make sure I didn't lose any of the nuance.
I do so enjoy shooting the aurora. Not only because it's so beautiful and special, but it really makes you think as a photographer and decide quickly what you have to work with. With the sky a mixture of deep greens and powerful reds, it seemed a simple choice to compose the shot with the tree right down the dividing line to create the most drama. I would have liked a little more ground in the image, but in the dark I couldn't tell. I'm happy with it anyway. Photography is the most important reminder to me that things don't have to be perfect to be wonderful.
