Tim Schallberger
This one is probably my favorite from this year as it was more than just driving up to a spot and setting up. For a couple of years now I have been wondering what kind of shot of the rare aurora I could get from the Mt Bachelor cone and on June 22, the numbers were looking really good so the time had come to see.In the summer-time Mt Bachelor closes their gates early in the afternoon so I would have to bike in approximately a mile with my gear and then start an hour + climb up the flank of Mt Bachelor and then finally scrambling up the backside of the “cone”. The “cone” is an ancient lava cone covered in loose lava rock which made the final stretch a 2 steps forward one step back process. But, by sunset I had made it to my perch for the evening and patiently waited. And by pure serendipity, a partial moon would be setting at the same time lighting the foreground landscape.
The shot is a 5 shot Vertical Pano taken at 10:30pm. What also made it special was a number of my friends scattered around the area were texting back and forth about our disbelief at what we were capturing!
You can see more of Tim’s work on his website.