Written in the Stars

Description

Few images mean more to me personally and my career than Written in the Stars. I planned to summit Mt. Alta in New Zealand on in the early spring as my first solo mountaineering experience. I loaded down my pack and trudged all day to reach my campsite for the night along the Buchanan peaks overlooking my favorite place in the world, Wanaka, New Zealand. I was so tired that after sunset I went right to sleep in my small backpacking tent with never a thought of taking photos of the night sky.

All I remember is waking up in the middle of the night to an astounding light, but not bright enough to be dawn. As I open my heavy eyes still full of sleep I was greeted by the dancing pillars of green and purple. What could only be the southern lights (Aurora Australis) snuck up on me in the middle of the night and were dancing across the sky. Immediately I grabbed my tripod and camera and rushed to the peak to capture all I could, no longer tired in the slightest. This image formed in my mind but I knew it would have to be a large panoramic to capture the whole scene. All in all, it ended up being an 18-image panoramic stitch and came in at over 2 GB of information. To this day I believe it to be one of the best images I have ever taken.