It has been FAR too long since the last time I photographed the Aurora Australis, but last night (September 24th) there was finally some action and I did the midnight dash – thermals, headtorch, camera bags and tripod – and out the door…

Aurora Australis 2013: Lauderdale September 24. 30 second exposure; ISO 2000. Pentax K5.

Aurora Australis 2013: Lauderdale September 24. 30 second exposure; ISO 800. Pentax K5.

Aurora Australis 2013: Lauderdale September 24. 30 second exposure; ISO 2000. Pentax K5.

I took off towards South Arm, which is a well known place to view the aurora australis near Hobart. I stopped on the way in front of a shallow lagoon just out of Lauderdale, hoping to not only capture the aurora itself, but also reflections in the still, shallow water. As it turned out this was the highlight of the evening in turns of the aurora. There were pink/red beams for a short while which weren’t visible again – partly due to the moon which rose around 11:00pm last night.

Aurora Australis 2013: South Arm September 24. 20 second exposure; ISO 5000. Pentax K5.

Aurora Australis 2013: South Arm September 24. 20 minute exposure; ISO 80. Pentax K5.

After Lauderdale I headed on to the South Arm/Betsey Island lookout and set up on the rocks. I tried a little light painting on the rocks, and went for a long exposure (20 minutes) as the aurora was fading by now, and the clouds were moving in to call an end to the nights activity.

Past Aurora Australis photos

Check out my Aurora Australis page for links to all my previous aurora related posts.