[Olympus E-M5, Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye]
July 4, 2013
June 30, 2013
Solar Storm
June 28-29, we had a nice showing of Aurora Borealis in central Alberta. I went out around 11pm and the best part of the show was from about 12:45-1:0a.m. Temperature was warm and watching the last its of sunset disappear was amazing considering how late it was. Originally I had found a slough that would have reflected the lights nicely, but the quantity of mosquitos made me rethink the desicion. Instead, I headed for open fields. There were still a few mosquitos, but at least they were tolerable enough that I could concentrate on my camera gear enough to make some images.
[Olympus E-M5, Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye]
June 23, 2013
Under Threat
Red Deer County was under a severe thunderstorm threat about a week ago and much of southern Alberta has been devastated by very heavy rain and flooding this past week.The extremes weather has caused unbelievable damage and destroyed much property, infrastructure, and sadly some lives have been lost. This storm that moved through Red Deer County a week ago was the beginning of all the rain, but from a different weather system. Devastating and awe inspiring at the same time.
[Olympus E-M5, Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye]
May 20, 2013
CME’s at Camp Teepee Pole
My family and I just returned from a great weekend away at Camp Teepee Pole which is near the Forestry Trunk Road west of Sundre in the foothills of Alberta. The first night out on Friday the 17th we experienced the Aurora Borealis for about 40 minutes. The aurora are caused by CME’s (Coronal Mass Ejection) which release huge quantities of matter and electromagnetic radiation into space from the surface of our sun. The aurora weren’t super bright and I couldn’t see the reds with my eyes, but I have enhanced the contrast a bit and my camera has much better vision than I do when it comes to seeing the very dim red spectrum at night. I used a Rokinon fisheye lens which sees a full 180 degree view and also introduces severe barrel distortion which explains the dramatic curvature around the edges of the images. This image is one of my favourites and was taken just as the display was coming to an end at around midnight. I had made my way down to the nearby James River and caught the moon setting and some beautiful streaks of red Aurora.
[Olympus E-M5, Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye]
October 1, 2012
Aurora Borealis
I caught wind that there may be a decent showing of aurora borealis tonight, so I quickly texted a couple of photo friends to see who wanted to come a long for the hunt. Gary Kuiken made it out and joined me about 20km outside Red Deer, AB to the east of town where there are very few lights to bother the view of the sky. We didn’t get a long show, but it sure got dramatic for a few minutes! We grabbed as many shots as we could before the aurora faded away and some clouds moved in. Even with a nearly full moon, the aurora still managed to put on a grand show. Creation is stunning!!!
The image above is my favourite of the evening. I used the tiny Samyang 7.5mm Fisheye lens for most of thee shots. You can tell which ones simply by noticing the curved horizon line. The lens is seeing 180° diagonally. This lens is really superb and is sharp right into the corners even when shot with the aperture wide open at f/3.5 ! Love it.
The show started out quite faint and not all that showy.
Looking straight up at the corona is always a treat, you just have to watch your balance in the dark and you neck bent over backward!
Then things started to pick-up and the aurora brightened significantly and you could really see the curtains moving quickly. Sometimes it’s hard to photograph spectacles like this as it is nice to simply watch the show, but then I couldn’t show you the magnificence of it!
[Olympus E-M5, Olympus 12mm f/2.0, Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye]
Collin J Örthner - Photographer 