Northern Lights, Bamburgh - April 2015

Hello again and welcome to another blog entry. I've been looking forward to writing about my recent sighting of the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis. After a brief showing back in December 2014, I was hopeful of catching a better light show before the end of the Aurora season, which is normally in late March. There had been a handful of decent Aurora activity since December, notably the big one on St. Patrick's Day, but sods law kicked in and I missed them, mainly due to work commitments, and not for the first time either. So, when a predicted forecast of Aurora activity was on the cards in late April, I decided to push the envelope and get myself up the coast to photograph it. As it happened I was working until 11.20pm on April 20th but that wasn't going to stop me making the 130 mile round trip, even though I was quite knackered at the end of my shift. The opportunity was too good to pass, especially as the aurora prediction also coincided with clear skies and no moon, which are ideal for this kind of photography. So, with everything in place, it was all systems go!

I made the journey north with work colleague and friend Ryan Pearce, who like myself has only been doing Astrophotography for a few months. We were both excited as to what the night had in store for us and we weren't disappointed. After an hour or so on the road we were soon in position with our cameras at Stag Rock Lighthouse, Bamburgh, on the Northumberland coast. This was the same location as my first and only sighting of the Northern Lights, so we were more than hopeful of a good light show to reward us for our efforts. Pointing our cameras in a northerly direction we fired off our first test shots to see if we could pick up any activity. Bingo! A magenta cloud was fairly prominent on the horizon and what a start to the night that was. Soon we could see small spires and they shifted fairly quickly to the right, along the horizon. The spires got bigger and more appeared as the minutes passed. To the naked eye they appeared as a grey hue, but the long exposures that the camera pulled in showed them as bright green and magenta. I ran off a time lapse sequence whilst watching the dancing lights, which consisted of around 80 x 20 second exposures.

The Milky Way was very prominent and stretched across the sky between the Aurora and Bamburgh Castle. I was hopeful of bagging a shot of the full vista in front of me, although the vast expanse would only be achieved by taking several shots and stitching them together in Photoshop. The photo at the top is the result of taking 14 exposures and letting Photoshop do the rest. Once stitched I edited the image, which took around 15 minutes to complete. I would say it's one of my best shots to date. This time last year I didn't even know what the Milky Way and Aurora looked like, so to grab myself a shot like this meant a lot. A rare phenomenon!

The lights danced on the horizon for two and a half hours before an orange glow began to appear. Yes, the sun was on its way. We left Bamburgh at around 4.15am and headed home. Job done. This was a memorable night, to say the very least. I have compiled a time lapse video of what we saw on this eventful night and it can be found on my website. Visit ashleycorr.com and head off to the TV page where you will find the 2 and a half minute footage. Alteratively, if you have access to a Smart TV, go to the YouTube app and search for 'Bamburgh Aurora'. The search results will show the thumbnail image with my name next to it. The video has been produced in High Definition and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's only my first attempt at this kind of thing, but I think I done ok. And that's about it. Hope you enjoyed this blog entry. Cheers, Ash  

 

Edlingham Castle, Northumberland

A first time visit to this location, at night, in the sticks, to have another bash at some Astro Photography. Arriving past dusk in almost pitch darkness, it was helpful in one way that an almost full moon was visible, although we weren't entirely sure how this would impact on the photographs we were about to take. A quick visual of this small site was enough to set up the camera near a large tree, just inside the main gate. Overhanging branches caught my eye immediately and this made for good top half interest, with the ruins sitting underneath. My first shot was right in front of me and the moon added that extra bit of atmosphere to it, so it wasn't long before the shutter was at work. The foreground ruins were lit by torch and the occasional bounce flash. Here is the first shot of the evening, taken around 6.30pm.

Before I continue I'd like to give you a brief history of Edlingham Castle, cut and pasted from the trusty Wikipedia page. It don't half come in handy!

Edlingham Castle is a small castle ruin, having Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building status, in the care of English Heritage, in a valley to the west of Alnwick, Northumberland, England. It has been described as "One of the most interesting in the county", by Nikolaus Pevsner, the architectural historian. Edlingham itself is little more than a hamlet with a church alongside the castle. The ruins are mostly laid low though much of the solar tower still stands despite an impressive crack running several stories down to ground level. The foundations and part of the walls of the hall house, gatehouse, barbican and other courtyard buildings are still visible, most dating from the 16th century. The castle - more properly a fortified manor house typical of many medieval houses in the North of England - guards one of the few approaches to Alnwick through the hills to its west. Its fortifications were increased in response to the border warfare which raged between England and Scotland in the period from about 1300 to 1600.

By 1174, a manor house at the location was in the possession of a John of Edlingham. In 1294, a descendant, Walter of Edlingham sold it to William de Felton, who strengthened it by building strong ramparts and a gatehouse, fortifying the main hall and adding other buildings inside a courtyard. In 1396 Elizabeth de Felton inherited it, marrying Sir Edmund Hastings, who added a strong solar tower. Their descendants occupied the castle and estate until 1514; it was then it was purchased by George Swinburne; a constable of Prudhoe, whose family held it until the 18th century. During this time it gradually fell into disrepair, with most of the buildings dismantled to build nearby farmhouses in the 1660s, but leaving the solar tower intact. In 1978 the Department for the Environment acquired the site and conducted extensive archaeological excavations, prior to which rubble filled the solar tower to a height of three metres. The site is now in the care of English Heritage and is easily accessible from the nearby church of St John the Baptist, Edlingham.

We were on site for a couple of hours, taking photographs from various angles and at one point we climbed the perimeter fence and headed across a small field towards the stream to get a much wider angle of view. It was from here that the Milky Way was visible and rising directly behind the tower. The Milky Way was nowhere near as prominent as it would have been without the high moon playing a part, but nevertheless is was there and it was ready to be photographed. As you can see in the second photo above, the MW appears faintly behind the ruins. As the moon moved across, from left to right (east to west), even less detail could be picked out. Another night of pitch darkness, with the moon set and a clear sky, would ensure visibility at it's very best. Maybe next time, eh.

A final flurry of shots came in the shape of a star trail, which you can see here (right). Not the best of examples by any means, but it was nice to finish with a sequence of 25 shots that could be stacked in Photoshop to achieve this effect. Play was stopped prematurely when lens dew appeared. In fact, when wiping the dew with a lens cloth it became apparent that it was actually a very thin layer of ice, which was quite stubborn to remove. Ice, after only twelve minutes in! Ah well, ya can't have it all. It was odd really, because even though it was very cold at the time, I became quite immune to it and could've easily continued for another hour or two. It was only after we'd packed up and headed back to the car that the cold hit me. Walking into it was a wake up call alright. We were soon back into the car and the heaters were on full pelt. It was a good night overall. Great location. Just the background noise of a flowing stream and several Owls calling. Definitely a place to revisit.

Cheers, AC

My First Bash At The Milky Way

The Milky Way. What exactly is it, I hear you say. Well, good question, as I never knew the answer myself until very recently. Chocolate bar isn't the answer, by the way. Copied and pasted from the ever trusty Wikipedia -

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name “milky” is derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. The term “Milky Way” is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek (galaxías kýklos, "milky circle"). From the Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within the Galaxy. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Up until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that all of the stars in the universe were contained inside of the Milky Way. Observations definitively showed that the Milky Way is just one of many billions of galaxies.

I had seen one or two outstanding photographs of it on social media, which awakened a side to my photography that I never existed until that moment. Intrigue got the better of me, so I done some digging via the internet and decided I wanted to have a go at photographing the Milky Way. I hadn't even seen it before, let alone photograph it, but I knew that if I ever did catch sight of it with the naked eye, then there was every chance I could record it as a photograph. A perfect chance presented itself ten days ago, during a family holiday on the Isle Of Wight. A perfect Summer day ended with a clear sky, which is an ideal backdrop for Astro Photography, as cloud cover can ruin any attempt at photography. The Moon had set too, which was another major factor, as any light source (Pollution) can also detract from the shot. With everything on my side it was now a case of hunting for the Milky Way, which began with a midnight car journey along the Western edge of the island. There wasn't another car on the road, which wasn't a big surprise, as I drove further into the darkness. I decided to pull over and step out of the car, hoping to get my first sighting of the Milky Way. I switched the car headlamps off and it this point I was surrounded by pitch darkness. I looked across to my right, over the sea and across the horizon...and there it was, stretching high and arching across the sky and into the distance over the Chale landscape. It was a kind of Eureka moment, seeing the glowing band for the very first time, and it this point I realised it was 'Game On'.

I was back into the car in a flash and driving once again. It didn't take long to arrive at Blackgang Chine, an adventure park built into the hillside, overlooking the sea. I was here just a few hours earlier, mingling with hundreds of other families as the park went into full swing. In stark contrast the place was now desolate. I was stood at the entrance to the now closed park, where the statue of a giant towered over me. What a picture that would make, I thought to myself, with the giant in the foreground and the Milky Way as a backdrop. Adventure Land, it certainly was. I switched the car engine off, plus the headlamps, again rendering the area in pitch darkness, apart from the window light from the foyer, which offered at least some illumination. Out came the big torch, leading the way and proving a godsend in poor light. Paranoia kicked in once or twice as trees rustled, owls screeched and even a fox walked by at one point. Being alone in a strange place, in the early hours, in pitch darkness isn't for the faint hearted. But when you're presented with a sight like I was, you just kick into gear and get on with the task in hand. And that was the story for the next half hour, as I ran off a few frames, using my torch to help me focus the 17-40mm lens, which at first failed to lock on to anything due to poor light.

I was crapping myself to be honest. I was sure someone was lurking in the trees behind me. It's a wonder I never knocked me neck out judging by the amount of times I quickly turned my head to see what was making the noises behind me. The mind boggles as to what it was. Best not go there, eh. And not before long I packed my gear up and headed to the relative safety of my car, locking the doors as soon as I was sat on my arse. Job done. Great experience, despite the fear factor, which in hindsight, was all part of the fun. It was certainly a sight to behold though, and one I'd like to see again in the not too distant future. I do believe an addiction to Astro Photography has kicked in!
Looking forward to the next chapter already...

Back soon, Ash