Last night before sunset I set out to find a dark(er) sky location with a clear view of the northern horizon. I found the perfect spot on a Darke County backroad, with a good pull-off to park and a majestic old tree a little ways down the road. I was thinking I would need my zoom lens because the few times I’ve seen aurora they’ve been low to the horizon. I was looking through my camera viewfinder and taking some practice shots when suddenly the color started popping! I quickly changed to my super-wide 14mm lens because the sky overhead and in all directions began exploding in color. I could see the colors and streaks with my bare eyes but the color was much brighter through the viewfinder. I still can hardly believe the whole rainbow of colors. The first photo is overhead with the Big Dipper and the International Space Station, which is a short streak because I was taking only 1.3 second exposures at 1600 ISO. I experimented with different ISOs but 1600 seemed to work best. #9. After the color began to fade I took a selfie in the middle of the road. #10. Stillwater River on the way home at 12:20am; still a little color in the sky. Such a truly amazing experience I won’t forget soon.

Here are the best of my 300+ photos. It was a real chore to pare down to a shareable amount!