Northern Lights

Northern Lights at First Curve

Northern Lights

Northern Lights

Mystic Phenomenon - Vertical

Mystic Phenomenon

On the walk back from Big Sable Point Lighthouse around 12:40am on Sunday, May 12th, my dad, Ethan, and I turned around and finally saw the northern lights show we had been waiting for all evening. The pillars shot straight up from the ground to above our heads. It was unbelievably bright and visible to the naked eye. Of course, the camera sees the colors even better than we do. This shot was just before the pillars shrank and disappeared. This is my dad’s photograph.

Epworth Lights

Hamlin Lake Workshop and Northern Lights

Hamlin Lake Workshop and Northern Lights Panoramic

The Holiday Inn Express in Munising, Michigan has become our home away from home when we are photographing in the Upper Peninsula. Thanks to a Facebook alert on my cell phone, I knew the northern lights might appear in the middle of the night. Every hour I got out of bed and went out on the porch of our hotel room to check. At around 4:50 a.m., I could see the lights over Grand Island. I set up my camera and tripod and made this image. In a few short hours my dad and I would be hiking across the ice to photograph the caves on Grand Island.

After an incredibly long and hard day of hiking and shooting photographs on Isle Royale, at around 11:30 p.m., my dad and I decided to take a chance and make the short hike to Tobin Harbor to see if the northern lights were out. To our surprise, we could see them as soon as we got onto the seaplane docks. We needed to set up quickly to ensure we got good images before midnight so we could use them in our new Wednesdays book. I knew from past experience I needed a 15-minute exposure. Multiple loons and at least two moose were calling back and forth over the water.

Last night after I got done watching a movie at the theater, I drove out to the First Curve on M116 at the Ludington State Park to see if the Northern Lights were out. I knew they had been out the night before, but the clouds were so thick in our area, you couldn't get a good photo of them. The application, Aurora Forecast, that I use on my iPhone, was measuring a level 5 on the KP scale. Usually at a level 5, you can see a tiny bit of color with a trained eye and some of the white pillars if they are out, but your camera will pick up the color much better. Standing in the parking lot of the First Curve, I could see the white pillars, but no color. It took me a few minutes to get my boots, warm clothes, headlamp, and hat on and to get my camera pre-set at the truck. I hustled up the small dune to the north of where I parked with my camera and tripod and this was the first exposure I made. It turned out to be the best shot of the night because the light show was short lived. The red light in the foreground is from a car's headlights as it was approaching from behind me at the very end of the exposure. I was fired up to say the least.

While my son Brad was focusing on Northern Lights over Big Sable Point Lighthouse, I have concentrated my attention on the Milky Way decorating the Aurora sky.

Northern Lights

When I made this image of Northern Lights on October 24, 2011, I was the lone photographer on the Ludington South Breakwater. In recent years, since the advent of Facebook and cell phone apps to alert photographers to the presence of Aurora Borealis, or the potential for them to appear, I am seldom alone whenever I travel to the Lake Michigan shoreline to attempt to catch a light show.

Northern Lights At Big Sable Point

One of my ultimate dreams in photography has been to capture the Northern Lights with my camera. On Dec. 14, 2006, my dream was realized. Around 8:30 pm I trekked to the top of a large dune within Ludington State Park. Five minutes later, the entire evening sky over Lake Michigan erupted into a bright red and green palette of color. As I was exposing this photograph, two large meteors blazed through the sky. The rush of emotions I felt that night were overwhelming.

I made this image of the northern lights last night while standing next to my dad on a tall dune near the Beach House inside the Ludington State Park. The lights were barely visible for several hours, but they erupted for less than one minute near midnight. I have never seen as many stars in the sky as I did that night.

Before I went to bed last night I saw on Facebook that the Northern Lights might appear during the night or the early morning and I texted my dad to let him know. I fell asleep early. A few hours into the night I dreamed a friend yelled to me in my sleep that the Northern Lights were out. In my dream, I shot out of bed and literally flew through my house and outside to my truck. The sky was raging with color. When I woke up in real life at 1:20 a.m., I went into my son's bedroom and looked out his window to the north. No Northern Lights were visible. I was disappointed and got back into bed. Unable to fall back asleep, I got on Facebook. About 20 minutes later I stumbled upon someone's post that they could see the Northern Lights. At that moment I shot back out of bed, threw on my clothes, and was off to the Ludington State Park. I texted my dad on the way and when I arrived at the First Curve the lights were barely visible. I knew I had to call my dad to wake him up, but my cell phone wouldn't work at the park. It always works there, but maybe the Northern Lights were interfering with the cell signal. I debated what to do. Since this was a Tuesday, I decided that I would gamble and not shoot any photos at that point and drive back into town until I had a cell signal to call my dad. I drove, and drove, and drove and still had no signal. I ended up at our gallery in downtown Ludington and used the landline to call him. I told him the good news and I headed back out to the First Curve at the Ludington State Park. Just after I arrived the Northern Lights started exploding. I put on my warm clothes and darted across M116 and into the nearest open field across from the First Curve parking lot. I made my image "Northern Lights Dream" at 2:17 a.m. Week 17 of "Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed: A Michigan Tribute" was starting off with a bang. F2.8 at 30 seconds, ISO 400, 18-50mm lens at 18mm

“Aurora Moon” by Brad Reed Last night at the Ludington State Park, along the shores of Lake Michigan, my daughter Julia and I stood in wonder while watching the Northern Lights dance in the distance. The moon and Venus were perfectly reflected in Lake Michigan as well. You could clearly see the lights with the naked eye, but of course, the camera could capture them much better. Nikon D850. F4, 32 seconds, ISO 800. 14-24mm lens at 24mm. On a tripod at 10:03pm on March 23, 2023.