Description
The 10/11 May 2024 will never be forgotten. This is probably my favourite photo that I have ever captured. but I could say that about half a dozen shots from the same extraordinary night. I spent a good part of it in Strandhill, at the amazing millenium-old graveyard and monastery in Killaspugbrone, looking across Sligo airport at Knocknarea on one side and across to Benbulben on the other. I shot photos and timelapses here at Strandhill and after a few hours of pure heaven decided to head for Benbulben to try the pre-dawn period there and successfully capture some aurora shots there too.
I am still pinching myself.
The only issue I have with this photo, as I have seen in my little retail outlet in Sligo, when people have come in and said “that can’t be real!” because the sky looks fake to them. I can assure you of all the night sky photos I took, this is one of the least processed!
For those who are into the “why and how” end of things, yes we cant see those colours – created by ions in the earth’s atmosphere activated by the suns radiation -with the naked eye as deep as this. but that is why we buy cameras which can pick up those frequencies better than our eyes. The processing was quite straightforward such was the strength of this remarkable G5 solar storm, and the kaleidoscopic colours it produced. It was a photographer’s dream, from dusk to dawn, with the dome-like aurora borealis over Ireland so the lights were visible in every direction.
Available at the time of publishing in the following formats: canvas, print, acrylic mounted framed prints and aluminium dibond artbox (email to enquire about the latter two which have to be priced and quoted separately and can not be ordered online without a prior quote).
