Aurora Borealis

The recent surge in solar activity provided an opportunity not to be missed. Over the nights of 8th & 9th October the Aurora Borealis was given 'code red' status. This meant that the lights were potentially visible from many parts of the UK. A rather hastily arranged trip up into the Campsie Hills to attempt to photograph the Northern Lights was well worth the effort!

The Aurora Borealis from the Campsie Hills, Scotland

The Aurora Borealis from the Campsie Hills, Scotland

Astrophotography Glen Coe

A cold and extremely dark night on Saturday saw me venturing out into the wilds of Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor in the Highlands for some astrophotography. Cloud cover in Scotland can be unpredictable at best, which means a suitable view of the stars is never quite guaranteed, nor expected. The area around Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor is one of the least light polluted locations on the UK mainland. Perfect for night photography. Perfect for my endeavours.

The moon was a waning crescent and its current angle in relation to earth meant that the light emanating from it wasn't going to interfere with my quest, it was in fact down below the horizon before too long.

The second concern, clouds. There was partial cloud cover and it really could have gone either way. Imagine my delight when just after midnight the sky cleared and left a fantastic starry expanse on which to feast....and feast I did!

There were two main objectives. The first was to attempt to incorporate the Milky Way into a landscape photograph. The second was to have some fun light painting foreground subjects with my car headlights.

I toured around the area until 2.00am, wandering around in the darkness attempting a variety of different compositions. The deer were out in force and startled me on a couple of occasions with their loud grunting. I will admit to more than a small surge of adrenalin when I first heard the grunting emanating from the dark expanse in front of me!

Successful trip.......

Black Ridge Cottage, Glen Coe. Lit by car headlights.

The Milky Way over Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor stars. Road lit by car headlights.