LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello how the hell are you and if this is your first time to the blog thanks for stopping by.   I have had a dream of Capturing the Northern Lights for years and as a photographer that shoots the night sky this was a dream come true for me.  I have been shooting the Milky Way for a while and I love the night skies that we have in Wyoming.  There has been one shot that I was never able to get.  This is the story about grabbing that dream shot.  

I was sleeping and woke up at 1230am for no reason at all but I looked at my Aurora app and it said the KP index was around KP4.  I then checked a message that said the lights were seen here in Casper so the choice was easy for me.  I jumped up got dressed and off I went to go try and shoot the northern lights.  The temp at the time was-16F degrees with a slight breeze so it was cold and I had little time to setup for the shot.  I managed to get the shot I had captured the Northern Lights I was so freaking happy.  I was in such a happy place that there was nothing that was going to bring me down.  I still was not awake yet because what I didn’t realize at the time was the camera was out of focus on the foreground to the point that it looked like a beginner was shooting this.  The stars luckily enough were in focus so I was happy that I could still use the skies for my shots.  

I still posted the shot that I got and it is one of the best performing images that I have ever posted in the groups that I post to.  I felt as if the image was unfinished not polished at all.  I was proud of that image but it was not up to my standards at all.  I headed back out the next night to redo the foreground to match the sky.  I ended up shooting some new star trails to go with the foreground and I had a complete image that I was really proud of.  

The whole meaning behind this story is simple you need to slow down when shooting because you only have one chance to grab the dream shot and don’t mess it up by rushing.  I did that I was not thinking clearly I was just thinking I need to get the sky just right.  You need to think about it all the foreground the sky everything.  I have learned that lesson and I still love the first image that I took of the Northern lights.  Its one of the best nights of shooting that I have ever had in my life.  The story is still worth it and I am going to keep that first image and still post it because I am proud of the work that I put into getting said image.  I just know for the in the future you have to make sure you are looking at all the image not just the sky.  

One thing that I have learned through all this is even if you are an experienced photographer you will still mess up when shooting something for the first time.  I will not make this mistake again lol.  Keep shooting and learning is the main take away for this weeks blog.  Enjoy from Casper y’all