Science & Tech

Calgary-based photographer captures epic aurora display

“One of the best weeks of my life,” says Matt Melnyk about his once-in-a-lifetime encounter

  • Published Oct 30, 2024
  • Updated Dec 02
  • 917 words
  • 4 minutes
  • interview by Madigan Cotterill

Swirling rivers of green and blue lights dance across the night sky, growing increasingly vivid as solar flares and the Earth’s magnetic field interact — the aurora borealis, one of the planet’s most majestic natural phenomena. 

For many people, witnessing the aurora borealis is a bucket list experience that’s worth travelling across the world for. The opportunity to observe the aurora flicker and shine is akin to peering through a kaleidoscope of colour. But photographing this experience is another story. 

Sometimes barely visible to the naked eye, the aurora is arguably one of the most challenging scenes to photograph. Low levels of light and often dim auroras call for long exposure times, precise focusing and proper lighting — not to mention being in the right place at the right time. However, in mid-October, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) announced that the sun had entered its solar maximum period, meaning the lights would be on full display — putting the odds slightly more in the photographers’ favour. 

Across North America, thousands of photographers, from professionals with high-tech DSLRs to amateurs with a simple cell phone, headed outside to capture the display. 

One Calgary-based photographer had been waiting years for this moment. Airline pilot Matt Melnyk has spent the last two decades refining his photography skills with a special emphasis on capturing the aurora borealis. When the solar maximum hit in mid-October, Melnyk was ready with his team of aurora chasers to document the epic event. 

To talk about his love of auroras and experience further, Canadian Geographic sat down with Melnyk to discuss his love for auroras and learn more about his nights with the lights. 

On his passion for photographing auroras

It’s so wonderful because every show I’ve seen is never the same. I can go out in the same location and do 20 different photoshoots of the aurora and I’ll come home with 20 different sets of photos — that’s what keeps me coming back for more. I just keep getting blown away by it. And it’s super interesting to me — all the science behind it, how they form, and why it happens.

On what made this most recent display so special 

Right now, we’re pretty much at the peak of solar maximum. We knew that there were two major solar flares specifically directed towards Earth. As an aurora chaser, we do a lot of monitoring of the sun. So understanding what the sun is doing will allow us to be more proficient in getting out there and nailing the shots, and getting in the right spot because we know that it’s going to be a really good show here on Earth.

On what an aurora-chasing team is 

My team is just a couple of friends of mine that have the same interests, and we go out together. When you go out by yourself in the middle of the night, somewhere dark, it’s kind of spooky, I guess. We have a female with us, and we want to make sure nothing happens to anybody. So, we have a minimum of two people, sometimes three, but we’ve been doing this for a few years now. We just go out there and we keep each other safe and it’s someone to talk to if anything happens. We take care of each other. 

On how he prepares to shoot the aurora 

The first thing is to have a very good quality digital camera, like an SLR or a mirrorless camera, and a tripod. Those are the two musts that we need to photograph the aurora because you’re going to be doing a longer exposure. At that point, we discuss online after looking at the cloud forecast. Sometimes in Alberta it can be tricky because you could be completely clear in Red Deer, but it would be overcast or foggy in Calgary. So we’re constantly looking at these forecasts to find a location. 

As a photographer, we don’t always want to go to the exact same location and have the exact same foreground, so we like to change it up to get unique photos. Once we know what the forecast is doing with regards to clouds — because, if it’s completely overcast, we’re not going anywhere — and we know there’s a clear spot, then at that point, we check the database of locations that we’ve developed over the years. Once we’ve found a location based on the cloud cover, then we just go there and set up. We have our lawn chairs, we get our cameras going, and then we kind of just move around and get different shots and watch what the aurora is doing. 

On what he suggests to individuals interested in photographing the aurora 

You need to understand what the sun is doing. So I would suggest following space weather and getting involved with that. There’s a free app called Space Weather Live, all the Aurora chasers have that. And that app will actually give you notifications and let you know if the sun is doing something active, which you’re going to need to know about. 

This was one of the best weeks of my life since I got to witness and photograph three separate out-of-this-world aurora displays. I am lost for words! 

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