Theater of Dreams

The “Theater of Dreams” Experience

Like visual music, aurora bands rise above the Brooks Range of Northern Alaska at 2:30 am on April 20, 2021. This is when everything is singing together: the moon & stars, auroras & mountains, the trees & me. It’s like being in a “Theater of Dreams,” and this dream comes true.

To me, this is more than just a photograph. Each compositional element strikes a chord and together they harmonize with feeling & emotion. The entire night is a concert with a beginning, a crescendo, and an end. The moon provides a consistent base rhythm as it slowly glides across the sky while the auroras create periodic riffs, occasionally amplified by explosive bursts of light & color.

I’ve never studied music theory and did not even know there were seven main harmonies of music, but I’d call this a 7-part harmony. In the intro I listed six elements... so the 7th must be you.

It’s like knowing a good song when you hear it. The only instrument I play is the camera, but when I see harmony in nature my eyes light up and I can feel that beat resonating deep within. This image is my ticket stub, something preserved in my photo album to help spark the memory of standing in this moonlit mountain theater and seeing this amazing concert live. The dancing aurora band's brilliant performance always leaves me at the end chanting, “One More Song!”