The clouds caught my eye, so I grabbed my camera.
Sunset, Oct. 18, 2023
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A moody Manitoba morning
It was a bit misty out this morning.
I snapped a few photos. The nearest trees in the photo are quite close; the furthest visible tree is less than half a block away.
Nerdy details: HDR composite image, 3 photos: 50mm, f/22, ISO 100, exposures of 1/25, 1/6, and 1/2 second for the three layers.
Aurora Borealis — Sept. 18, 2023
There were some northern lights again last night. They were pretty intense; not quite as bright as the shows back in March, but nothing to sneeze at either.
I took both my cameras to my favourite spot and snapped photos for about an hour. (No kidding; all the photos below were taken between 10:14pm and 11:16pm.) Out of just over 1000 photos, I present my 27 favourites.
All the photos were 5‑second exposures, f/2.8, ISO 3200, at either 11mm or 24mm.
Here’s a quick peek behind the curtain: compare the unedited photo to the version I’ve uploaded.
Milky Way — Sept. 16, 2023
Last night the sky was clear, so I went south with my cameras. I got some good photos of the Milky Way just off of Highway 2.
There was a haze to the north, too, so I aimed one of the cameras that way. It wasn’t a terribly great show—not while I was out—but I did sneak a quick shot of the aurora and the PLeaides.
On my way home, the aurora picked up a bit, so I detoured onto a dark side road for a few more minutes. I think I missed the best part of the show, but I did get to drive into a foggy valley and back out again, so at least there’s that.
It was a pretty decent evening, and I was home not long after midnight.
(Header image: 12-image panorama of the Milky Way; each image is 11mm, 30 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 3200.)
Writing Retreat 2023: Friday
Well. I didn’t really keep up with posting about my retreat, did I now.
I was at the cabin for a week, Friday to Friday, with a couple days off in Winnipeg for my mom’s birthday. The weather was generally pretty grey, though it warmed up on Thursday enough for me to take my one and only kayak ride. (It was lovely, but windy, so the lake was a bit choppy.)
Thursday night, finally, the sky was mostly clear. There was a thunderstorm far, far off to the north; I could see the flashes, but I couldn’t hear the thunder at all.
I also snapped photos of Jupiter and all four Galilean moons, and Saturn (I think I even caught a bit of the ring).
Writing Retreat 2023: Thursday bike ride
Thursday morning I went for a ride and took my camera along. I went up the hill on 16A, and then raced back down it and noodled around town for a bit, mostly along the river (they’ve opened or re-opened a few pedestrian bridges, which I liked).
As I was processing the photos, I tried one of GNU IMP’s automatic features, and it was a little, uh, dramatic.
It was a fun 10km ride.
Sunflowers
On my way to Winnipeg for my mom’s birthday, I happened across a field of sunflowers.
Writing Retreat 2023, day one
I moved in to the cabin Friday evening—laptop, sleeping bag, cameras, bike, and food—and got settled in. I read for a bit[1]Current read: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, which is pretty trippy so far. and checked the forecast. The evenings this week look pretty cloudy, so I’m not sure how much astrophotography I’ll get to do. Last night was clear, though, so I decided to head on out about 10pm.
I got set up at the Wasagaming dock just before 11 and snapped about 30 minutes’ of star trails. I discovered later that the camera wasn’t quite as level as I’d hoped, so I ended up cropping out the thin line of the lake, but the tree on the left made a nice foreground. (See the photo above.)
After that I headed to Spruces, and set up one camera for another round of star trails…
…while the other one was designated for Milky Way photos.
It was a good start to the week, I think.
Goals
What I’d like to do with my week:
- write (aiming for 10,000 words, let’s say, in two projects: Praise the Torch When ‘Tis Burned[2]aka “Derelict starship + ghosts” and The Slow Apocalypse[3]aka “Wizard v. Warhead”.
- photography
- read a bunch
- bike rides (aiming for 5–10km a day, weather permitting)
- kayaking (at least twice, again, weather permitting)
- celebrate my mom’s birthday
Hold my calls, I’ll be at the cabin.
Perseids and other sky-borne delights
Last night was clear, so I went out to see if I could catch any of the Perseids. I saw a half-dozen, but I only caught one bright one on camera.
That’s OK, though; there was plenty for me to take photos of.
The Milky Way
Aurora Borealis
Jupiter
Star Trails
Oh, and a meteor
I was out in the dark for a couple hours, and it was worth it.
Aurora, Aug. 4/5, 2023
My first time shooting with two cameras. It was a good show, even with hazy skies and a full moon rising.
And I made a timelapse of over 1,000 of the frames I shot last night, too.