Western Arctic National Parklands Residency Day 22: Kotzebue, AK
I was up early today to get ready for a possible trip to Cape Krusenstern National Monument (waiting for travel paperwork to clear in time). I had my own clothes and gear to pack, NPS gear to gather, and my workshop this evening to prepare for.
At noon I went in to the park with Tyler to get the room set up for tonight, moving tables, chairs and setting up painting supplies. While there I got the word that the travel papers cleared so I'm good to go! I also met the ranger whose project I'm tagging along on to Cape Krusenstern (more about this later), she flew in from the Fairbanks office this morning. We met with Ranger Julia to work out travel plans and gear organization.
My workshop started at 6pm, but I was there early to finish setting up and get settled and ready. It went well, there were about 20 people who painted a photo from my trip to Noatak National Preserve earlier this month. The workshop wrapped up a little after 9pm, we did some rough cleaning and organizing, and headed home. Tyler proceeded to sit down and work on his painting for another couple hours, making frustrated comments about his efforts that are exactly the things I think and say while working. It's kind of cool to hear a friend experience the same things and have an idea what my job is like. Most of the time people can't understand my experiences, they just see the finished product and it seems like an easy process for me to create it.
The aurora forecast for tonight was good, and I heard from Ranger Julia that last night was amazing outside of the town lights. She went out with some friends on the loop road, a gravel road that runs a loop through the tundra connecting both ends of town. Around midnight I got a text to confirm that I was welcome to join the small group headed out on the loop road again. I grabbed my camera and tripod, plus a blanket and warm layers and headed out to meet them. The auroras are variable and unpredictable, you have to just sit and be patient. I spent a long time figuring out how to get a decent exposure. It was challenging and in the end I was only able to get shots that blur the lights, they don't show the clarity of shape and movement. I'm sure if I did night photography professionally I'd find some pretty nice gear to help get what I want. Then there's still the problem of which way do you set your camera facing, since the lights move and you end up missing some of the best stuff. Still, I have images that give some idea of what we saw. The only downside was that it was terribly cold out there, I didn't have enough warm clothes along, and we were out until 4am. I was falling asleep while standing up. Too many late nights in a row, but impossible to pass up opportunities for great experiences.
Some images of the auroras. The last few are brighter blue because the sun was starting to come up again. It was weird, the sun set, it took hours for the sky to darken as much as it did, which was not all the way dark, then that patch of lightness just slid across the horizon until the sun started to come up again. People here are used to it but it's really cool to watch.
At noon I went in to the park with Tyler to get the room set up for tonight, moving tables, chairs and setting up painting supplies. While there I got the word that the travel papers cleared so I'm good to go! I also met the ranger whose project I'm tagging along on to Cape Krusenstern (more about this later), she flew in from the Fairbanks office this morning. We met with Ranger Julia to work out travel plans and gear organization.
My workshop started at 6pm, but I was there early to finish setting up and get settled and ready. It went well, there were about 20 people who painted a photo from my trip to Noatak National Preserve earlier this month. The workshop wrapped up a little after 9pm, we did some rough cleaning and organizing, and headed home. Tyler proceeded to sit down and work on his painting for another couple hours, making frustrated comments about his efforts that are exactly the things I think and say while working. It's kind of cool to hear a friend experience the same things and have an idea what my job is like. Most of the time people can't understand my experiences, they just see the finished product and it seems like an easy process for me to create it.
The aurora forecast for tonight was good, and I heard from Ranger Julia that last night was amazing outside of the town lights. She went out with some friends on the loop road, a gravel road that runs a loop through the tundra connecting both ends of town. Around midnight I got a text to confirm that I was welcome to join the small group headed out on the loop road again. I grabbed my camera and tripod, plus a blanket and warm layers and headed out to meet them. The auroras are variable and unpredictable, you have to just sit and be patient. I spent a long time figuring out how to get a decent exposure. It was challenging and in the end I was only able to get shots that blur the lights, they don't show the clarity of shape and movement. I'm sure if I did night photography professionally I'd find some pretty nice gear to help get what I want. Then there's still the problem of which way do you set your camera facing, since the lights move and you end up missing some of the best stuff. Still, I have images that give some idea of what we saw. The only downside was that it was terribly cold out there, I didn't have enough warm clothes along, and we were out until 4am. I was falling asleep while standing up. Too many late nights in a row, but impossible to pass up opportunities for great experiences.
Some images of the auroras. The last few are brighter blue because the sun was starting to come up again. It was weird, the sun set, it took hours for the sky to darken as much as it did, which was not all the way dark, then that patch of lightness just slid across the horizon until the sun started to come up again. People here are used to it but it's really cool to watch.