A Photo is Worth a Thousand Blessings?

It's been a whirlwind month so far, and all because of one picture that I took, which is shown below. It was taken with a Canon 40D and my new Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens.



I had also taken photos of the Perseid Meteor Shower a week after the Aurora, but more on that later. I had submitted my photos to Spaceweather.com and three of them got posted at the bottom of the following pages -

August 2010 Aurora Gallery page 3


August 2010 Aurora Gallery page 4


As a result of the Spaceweather.com postings, a reporter from SPACE.com got a hold of me and asked my permission to use one of the photos in a news story she was working on. Naturally, I said, "Yes." The story got posted on the SPACE.com and Yahoo.com websites.

SPACE.com Aurora story



Yahoo.com Aurora story


Then I got contacted by a guy who works for the Group for Earth Observation GEO and asked permission to use one of the photos in their magazine. Again, I said, "Yes." Once it is ready, I'll post some photos of it.

After that, I submitted one of the photos to the Astronomy Photo of the Day webstite APOD. While it didn't make the cut to get posted their, a woman asked permission to post the photo of the websites forum called Starship Asterisk - APOD and General Astronomy Discussion Forum


Then, the CTV News morning show Canada AM and I were in talks to do an on-camera interbiew to be broadcast during the show. Unfortunately, due to a major breaking news story, it had to be postponed. I had to submit a number of photos to them on the Aurora and the Perseid Meteor Shower, as well as a headshot in case they wanted to do a phone interview instead. Well, I'm still waiting to hear about that.

However, as a consolation prize, my Aurora photo appeared on a blog by a reporter at the local newspaper, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Her blog is called Mousing Around and the post she did on my photo can be found here.


As a result of her efforts, my Aurora photo was also printed in the Star Phoenix newspaper. Below is the picture of my Aurora photo in the newspaper along with a story about my good friend Bob of Blackholes and astrostuff.


One of my meteor shower pictures was chosen as one of the Yahoo Editorial Perseid Meteor Gallery.



And finally, to top it all off, one of my Aurora photos was chosen as the SkyNews Editor's Choice Photo of the Week.



I feel very blessed to have received all of this attention. It means a lot to me and has been a very special experience.

And The Fight Is On...

Well, I've done it. I've bought a Canon camera. After much deliberating, I have taken the plunge back to Canon. I sold my Nikon D80 and bought a Canon 40D. I have kept my Nikon D90 however. I have an 18-55mm image stabilization lens for the D90 and I've ordered the same size lens for the 40D. Both will have batter grips, and remote shutter release cables.

I've heard nothing but great things about the 40D. My friend Bob, of Blackholes and Astrostuff has a 40D. I've always loved how his photos turn out so much more full of color than mine. The major difference is in the sensors on the camera. The Nikon is not an ideal camera for night photography, in my opinion. It introduces too much noise and red color into the photos. The Canons is rated far superior for night photography than the Nikons.

One thing I noticed at the Cypress Hills Star Party (SSSP 2009) in August, is that everyone had a Canon DSLR for night shooting. I had the chance to meet Alan Dyer while there and bought his book (that was co-written by Terrence Dickinson), The Backyard Astronomer's Guide. Even in that book they recommend strongly that Canon is the only way to go for night photography. So, how could I pass up the chance to improve my night shooting of the stars by not getting this camera? Truth is that I couldn't.

I haven't had a chance to use the 40D yet, due to the weather, but hopefully soon. I'll also be ordering the necessary adapters to attach the Canon to a telescope, similar to the set up for my Nikon. As soon as I have some results, I'll post them. For now, I have a picture of the Nikon D80, Canon 40D and Nikon D90, respectively, so you can see how they all look.