At 6am on Monday morning I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. Belly laughs like that are so good for you. We all need to do that more often and it was a great way to start the week 😁. However, I digress.

I’m signed up for alerts on Aurora Borealis activity and the last 2 nights has, apparently, been a good time to see this spectacle of nature in the north of England.

Unfortunately, however, nobody told the weather it was a good time for outdoor photography and this evening we have 60mph winds howling straight off the fells 🫤. I tried braving the elements with my tripod but it promptly blew over and my camera nearly ended up in next door’s field, so I hoofed it back indoors tout de suite. I then set up again from the relative safety of my bedroom, with the patio doors open.

Night photography is time consuming. I set my shutter to open for a full minute, followed by another full minute of noise reduction, so each photograph took 2 minutes during which time the freezing gales ricocheted off my bedroom walls. In the end I was so cold I left my camera to it and got under the duvet with the electric blanket on 🥶

It’s also very cloudy here in the Lake District and although you probably need some cloud for a good Aurora, blanket cloud means you don’t get to see much.

After all that kerfuffle this was my best shot. It’s not going to win any awards, but it’s the first time I’ve managed to photograph the Aurora and considering the conditions I’m lucky I managed to capture anything at all!

You see a lot of very luminous and brightly coloured Aurora online, but the truth is there’s not much to see with the naked eye. The sky looked bright (a bit like when there’s a full moon) and a pale shade of green but it’s not until you get the images into editing software and start drawing out detail that the Aurora becomes fully visible. I could have made the colours much more vibrant and extensive but that wouldn’t have been true to what was actually happening and although this image isn’t anywhere near as spectacular as most you’ll see online I think it’s probably much more honest.

On to other news. My little photography room is finally starting to take shape, yayyy! Plastering is done and is currently drying out, the flooring arrives on Thursday and the electrician is here to wire up all the sockets and fit the lights on Friday. After that, it’s just a case of painting and getting the joiner back and it will be done (I had to use a wide angle lens to get the whole room in – it’s not as narrow as it looks in this picture!). I’ve missed being able to do any photography as not only have I had no space, my kit has all been boxed up and put away while the work has been carried out. After nearly 2 years of house renovations I can’t wait to get this last room done.

Right, now I’ve thawed out a bit it’s time for a brew and my jim jams.