I've wanted to photograph the Northern Lights since I first started taking pictures. I never would have imagined that my first shots of this beautiful phenomenon would be from the outskirts of Seattle – under a full moon.

(click on image for larger view)

Knowing the lights were going to be out in full effect, thanks to a massive solar storm, I headed out to the northern tip of Golden Gardens around midnight with a good buddy of mine. I setup my tripods facing due North and started snapping away, not knowing what to expect.

At first, in the distance we could see a faint green glow in the thin clouds above Puget Sound, and eagerly waited for the lights to grow brighter. About an hour later, green and purple Northern Lights started glowing to the NE, just on the edge of where I had framed my shot. I quickly repositioned my camera and watched in amazement as the night sky came to life.

Within about 5 minutes the dramatic light show ended, and the green and purple lights started to fade away. It's hard to describe how exciting it was to photograph such a rare event, knowing that there is a very high probability that this could be a sight I'll never see again in Seattle.

We cracked a beer in celebration of what we just captured.

While the lights on this night weren't as impressive as they were in Alaska, it was still an incredible sight to see in Seattle. I’ll be planning a trip to Alaska in the relative near future to photograph the Northern Lights again - I'm hooked.

More images from the light show to come....

Cheers,

Dan