The skies were forecast clear and the internet in my part of the world was buzzing with chat about possible Aurora Borealis activity. So it was a no brainer that I needed to take a road trip to somewhere suitably iconic as foreground interest for when the skies erupt with colour.
My chosen location was Steetley Pier on the north east coast of England. It's a 2 hour drive for me so I set off in plenty of time with batteries fully charged and a bag full of optimism.
Steetley Pier is a disused and abandoned industrial pier once used for carrying quarry products direct to moored up ships. It's been abandoned for years but it makes an iconic subject for photography.
I arrived just as blue hour was starting and I made my way down to the beach:
If Heineken did Selfies....
While I was waiting for the skies to go fully dark, I decided to take advantage of the blue hour. This was quick and easy to set up with a flash gun behind and me wearing a head torch.
There was enough vapour in the air to create some background separation which is always good.
Shot using my Sony 14mm G Master, my favourite lens.
I also created a vertical version, it's always hard to choose between them:
Gimme the moonlight
As it was getting dark, I wandered around the pier looking for compositions. The moon was about 50% waxing but still quite bright. Here I've used no lighting at all, just moonlight.
The Pier
I wandered over to this side of the pier and struggled a bit with no real foreground interest.
Behind the scenes
Whilst waiting for my camera to finish a star trail timelapse, I set up my iPhone on a tripod and shot this 30 second exposure image. I was curious to see what the quality was like. My conclusion is that phones still can't compete....yet!
Faint Aurora Borealis
I was disappointed not to see Aurora Borealis despite many test shots trying to spot the colours. I set about shooting a star trail sequence with 120 images of 30 seconds each.
As the sequence finished, I reviewed the images on the back of the camera and I was surprised to see I'd actually caught the Aurora!
This definitely wasn't visible to the naked eye but I'll take it nonetheless!
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in landscape, urbex and artistic model photography. I like to collaborate with other photographers and occasionally shoot outside my comfort zone.
