I sat alone on the rocky, moonlit cliff overlooking Cook Inlet's Turnagain Arm while reflecting on the New Year and the long Holiday Shows my wife & I wrapped up less than 24 hours ago. Anchorage, Alaska, our hometown, was just a few miles up the road but I was already in another world. Stardate: January 6, 2015.
The sound of a bore tide roaring up the Inlet like a freight train jarred me from my reverie. The powerful wave, illuminated by moonlight, crashed on by leaving a football field sized eddy whirling in its wake. Wow!
By the third night of camping my life was cycling with the tides, the moonrise, the stars above and my all-time favorite, the aurora. Just before midnight on this spectacular night a faint green band developed over the Chugach Mountains as I framed an inviting silhouette deep within some spruce trees. With very little warning the aurora erupted beyond belief and began dancing up and down the Inlet, curling and whirling on all sides. I felt enveloped by the forces of nature.
Waves of green light streamed beyond my spruce opening and reflected on the ocean below. I ecstatically used one camera to shoot left, then right, then straight up while using the main camera to continue recording images through the tree branches. I had the sensation of looking through a window into another world, turbulent yet calming. My "Whirled View."
Turnagain Arm
Nikon D800E with Nikkor 14mm/f2.8
1.6 Seconds, ƒ/2.8, ISO 1600