In May of this year I missed out on an epic and unbelievable night of the northern lights visible in Nova Scotia. I’ve always wanted to photograph them but had never had the chance. It was clear leading up to that night in May something special was coming, but I had big plans the following day and didn’t dare risk a night of little to no sleep. Seeing what people captured the next day was rather disappointing.

On the evening of Oct 10th it became clear something similar was about to happen. We start to see the aurora here somewhere around a KP index of 5. The night in may was a 9, and they were forecasting 8.3 on this particular evening. Photos started rolling in as soon as the sun was setting and I realized I had to go for it this time.

I very nearly missed it. I found a good spot outside the city, away from lights, just 20 minutes away, and set out driving. Little did I know they’d be just as visible IN the city this time, a staggering occurrence. Even on the highway on my way out amidst all the headlights, the sky was clearly pink straight overhead and all around.

I arrived just in time to set up one shot before the best of that pink, likely around KP 8.7, disappeared. I then had a bit of a hike into the woods to setup on the lakeside facing north and by that time, things were calming down. None the less I got some photos of the remnants I still really love.

This was a bit of a dream come true and I’m thrilled to have captured these photos.