# @rodmarphoto on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DKcqkEivOMG
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/65044263-rodmarphoto-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b7a20f38af.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-03T17:59:18.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Rod Mar (@rodmarphoto) — https://gondola.cc/rodmarphoto

## Caption

Notes from a Photographer’s Life:

When your spouse is the publisher of the weekly newspaper in La Conner, WA, and you’re a photographer and there’s a rare geomagnetic storm in the area…you grab your camera and go looking for the Aurora Borealis.

La Conner is a small, yet very quaint town, with the arty shops, bars and restaurants one would expect. A channel runs along the west side of town, with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community on the opposite side. The two communities are joined by the Rainbow Bridge which passes over the channel. I love that it exists to join two communities and is also a landmark.

Enough geography. I share that with you because I spent in the three hours on Monday I spent staring at the skies, I also drove around scouting for a good shooting spot. Some keys I look for - a notable landmark that hopefully rises into the sky and it has to be located in relative darkness as the long exposure required to capture the lights of the Aurora would render overexposed anything brightly lit.

For me, shooting the northern lights is like photographing fireworks on the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve - it’s better if there’s a recognizable landmark. Not only does it make the image more visually compelling, it adds a sense of place - and in La Conner, the Rainbow Bridge is a key landmark.

Only remaining challenge was crossing my fingers that the Aurora would not only appear, but that it would appear to the north of the bridge so I could tie in all of the elements.

Luck was on my side and around 1130pm, I started to see the lights. Took a bunch of frames, messed with the composition (Wider! No, tighter! Get the reflection of the water! No it needs more sky! You get the point).

I got lucky, the light of the Aurora appeared, and I managed to make a few frames.

📸: Nikon Z 8, Nikkor Z 20mm f/1.8 S, 6 sec., f/1,8, ISO 800

#auroraborealis #northernlights #laconner #nikon #nikonz8 #nikonambassador

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## Tags

laconner, nikonambassador, nikon, northernlights, auroraborealis, nikonz8

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