December 2023 started with a really great show of Northern Lights. After a recent X-class solar flare on the sun pointed at the Earth, I knew the chance of catching the Aurora Borealis were great that day and with very little cloud cover, things were stacking up in my favor so after the sun set, I stepped outside a few times and started seeing a faint glow through my backyard and decided it was time to jump in the car with my camera and my tripod. I decided to drive from my town of St-Pierre to Aubigny and stopped at the bridge over the Red River. By the time I had setup my new tripod, which, in hindsight I should have gotten familiar with before trying to set it up in the cold in complete darkness, the auroras were really getting active and displayed almost the full spectrum of color that you’d see in a rainbow. I was really stunned by the result and made for great prints which you can get here!
After several shots, I chose to drive elsewhere but was not as lucky as at the bridge and so decided to drive back toward St-Pierre but as I got back, I saw that the Northern Light activity was on the rise again and so decided to take a gravel road and get a few more shots. That next picture shows a clump of trees with the Northern Lights in the background looking like an angel or bird racing toward the ground. You can order the print here!
And this next one, we see the moon rise under the auroras and some plane contrails. Order your print here!
Later during the month, on a frosty day, I capture the halo of ice crystals around the sun on a few locations between Aubigny and Carey as it was setting on the horizon
Marc Gilbert Photography 
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