Well I have to admit, this shoot was definitely a happy accident. We had set up camp for the night next to Lake Hawea, in New Zealand’s South Island. The conditions were looking good for an astro shoot so I decided to setup my gear after dark.

• • I was facing where the milky way was supposed to show itself and when I did a test shot I noticed a slight greeny-pink haze along the horizon. Knowing exactly what this could mean, I decided to try my luck at a timelapse sequence in hopes of capturing any Aurora activity over the next few hours. Once setup, I took myself off to bed and let the camera do its thing.

    My alarm woke me at 2am and I snuck out of the camper (as quietly as I could) and grabbed my gear. Plenty of time to look through the shots when I wake up again. When dawn broke, and I’d done my job of making the camper warm enough for the other sleepy heads to roll out of their blankets, I checked the shots. It was so exhilarating to see the colours dance across my camera LCD. The result is what you see in the video, breath taking!