– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - If you like unstable, I’m your girl

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

Once before, this year, I missed out on a massive geomagnetic force that caused brilliant Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as northern lights. Last spring, I didn’t know there was supposed to be such an amazing display, so I went to bed and come the morning, saw tons of photos on my Facebook feed.

As my dad would say when he was particularly upset, well, poop.

I grew up seeing northern lights, because when we lived in Mellen (It’s not Canada, but you can see it from there!), when I was little, it was a pretty common occurrence. That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy seeing them. I don’t think we ever saw them except in winter, but I don’t fully remember. It’s mostly cold up there anyway, so I could be wrong.

The dancing beams of light always delighted me, but I never saw any colors to them. When we moved here to Cornell, it was too far south to view the northern lights anymore.

However, when I was a teenager, I guess there must have been a solar storm, because one night, when Mom and I were sitting watching TV, we suddenly saw a flickering green on the northern horizon. We shut off the set, stood at the window and wondered what in the world was happening.

Aliens? Nah. Wait, could it be? Nah. A chemical cloud? (What, I love science fiction, OK.) Nah.

Then Mom said she thought it must be northern lights, even though we’d never seen any emerald green ones before. And they danced and quivered across the whole horizon, so we really can’t be blamed for not recognizing them. They were so cool and all anyone could talk about the next night at Youth Group.

That happened only once and we thought it probably never would again.

Well, things have changed, with the climate and whatnot, so more and more vibrant northern lights have appeared. I always missed them. Until a couple weeks ago. The forecast was strong for them to appear, as brilliant as they did in May of this year, if not more so.

I made up my mind, I didn’t care how tired I was, how cold it was, this time, I was going to sit out and take pictures of the lights. The day came and some of us local photographers were messaging each other, talking about what time to go out, where and exposures, etc.

One gave me the settings she shoots northern lights in, since I never had before. Good thing, I had my shutter speed set way too high, not allowing enough time for light exposure.

Anyway, I had a board meeting to cover and by the time that was done, even though it was early, the lights were already out. First, I went to the Brunet Island State Park bridge, but like others who came and went, that spot didn’t yield results.

I then was going to sit at Big Rock, but when I parked down by the riverfront trail behind the city shop, I decided that wasn’t the spot for me either. So, to Mill Yard Park along the river I went. There, I joined dozens of others, with their faces, phones and cameras turned to the sky.

Let me say now, the tripod I have came with the camera and I’ve never needed to use it until now, so I didn’t know it was basically useless. It’s very short and stands on three, wobbly, rubbery plastic legs. “Stands” is a generous word, because every time I set it down on the hood of the car or on a bench, it folded up like a paper napkin. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get it to stay up to get a shot.

I did manage to get a few good ones, as well as some nice ones with my cell phone on night mode. I always thought the brilliant hues were exaggerated by photographers or their devices. I mean, who ever actually saw northern lights of red and pink?

I learned different that night – the obligatory clear dancing beams, along with swirling crimson, fuchsia, emerald and other colors I can’t even describe, were present for a couple hours. It was indescribably beautiful, as those gathered turned their gazes toward the night sky, at one in harmony with each other and the light display.

Since my tripod turned out to be a dud, at one point, I decided I could hold really, really still, just long enough to take the lights with my camera in my hands. Just as I pressed the shutter button, though, I lost my balance and with a squeal, fell over into the car.

You can imagine how that shot turned out, but if you can’t, I’ll describe it for you. The bright crimson sky is in the background, although a bit blurred, but the real attraction is in all the little light squiggles across the frame.

It looks like someone took a photo of a person “air writing” with a sparkler on the 4th of July, or maybe a child writing with a stylus on their tablet. Supposedly, certain people will pay good money for a shot such as that.

Well, if that appeals to you and you’re willing to shell out big bucks, I’m unsteady enough, that I can shoot a whole gallery of squiggles for you!