Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Max

@paisleystars.bsky.social

4.6K followers 640 following 4.3K posts

Sometime wanderer. When not wandering, probably north of you. Wildlife photographer (they/them)

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · Jun 24

Shamelessly reposting some of mine because I have early morning anxiety and feel the need to prove my credentials when grumbling about somebody with a much larger audience 😂

An Arctic fox, half-face portrait, black and white

A nursing polar bear and almost fully grown cub in front of a calving glacier

A young reindeer stamping through the frozen ground for food

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 11h

Ooh, gritting. This time it's officially winter.

A wheel loader spreading lanes of grit on a snowy path

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 22h

Weird storm today, with a sudden temperature spike up above freezing, loads of rain, and then a matching sudden temperature drop back below freezing.

So, erm, good luck walking on any surfaces without stacking it for the next few days, I guess? 😂😂😭

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 22h

P
i
n
k

Pink and purple aurora, as a single narrow overhead streak in a star filled sky

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

The sky is just as magnificent when it's quiet, btw

A star filled, otherwise black, sky

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Sky stuff again

🍇🌸🍏

Green and pink aurora borealis (northern lights) over a small part of a mountain peak

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Old Lady Dog is singing along to Stacy's Mom. I turned it off, she sulked, I turned it back on, she started again. I am crying laughing and she doesn't give a shit, she's having a great time 😂😂🤩

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Happy discovering you have completely forgotten how to process the white balance on an aurora shot after several months of perpetual daylight day (to those who celebrate)

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

It's one of the towers from an old cableway that carried coal from the mines to the port. You can see a different stretch of it in the bottom left of this image

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Okay, it's disgusting out. Super dark, both because of the fading sunlight and because of an incoming storm. There's wet ice in the wind, which itself is fighting through every single valley and across every mountain face like it's got something to prove.

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Wasn't it magnificent? 🥰

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Also of note is this single-second exposure. When the lights are bright enough to shoot that fast, you get to see how complex and delicate Lady Aurora's ball gowns really are.

(All of these are processed in Snapseed directly from the jpeg because I am horribly sleepy deprived after last night 😂)

Green and pink aurora borealis in very narrow stripes

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 1d

Welcome back to the 'don't look now but the sky's doing weird shit' part of the year

The aurora borealis (northern lights) as two distinctive shapes over a mountain. One purple spike into a more diffuse green wave. Both very clear and strong.

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

Okay, but it's a banger in black and white. No, I'm not even slightly ashamed 😂

Aurora borealis behind a disused mining cableway tower, in monochrome

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

Two years I've been after this shot 😆

(Proper photos tomorrow. Lady Aurora has made her dramatic entrance in the most amazing green and purple gown and I am going to be busy)

Bright green aurora borealis behind an old mining cableway tower made of wood

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

This is because, despite what certain boys' clubs would have you believe, there's no secret photography tricks that they only teach you when you 'go pro'.

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

I shoot Canon because of the colour authenticity and cutting edge autofocus advances, but also because I like to live on the edge and the perpetual risk of equipment failure keeps me on my toes 😜

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

And the sequel: card cannot be accessed.

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

No card in camera

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 2d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 2d

"The chancellor approved it"

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 2d

Ah, s'cuse me isn't the super specific regional idiom, it's the word he used after that (which I removed because it narrows it down to about 50 square miles 😆)

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 3d

It is ridiculous that I get to live here

A disused mountain road, looking down past a mining cableway to a small town. The aurora borealis dominates the background

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 3d

Met a man from almost my hometown today, which I knew because he started his greeting with 'S'cuse me [very specific regional idiom], I think I'm a bit lost'.

As soon as I opened my mouth to reply, the poor man briefly thought he was really, very lost.

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 3d

Look at this forecast though 🤩 going to hike a mountain and have pizza at the top for dinner so we can see what the sky does.

A weather forecast showing clear skies all night

An aurora forecast showing strong activity all night

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 3d

Disclaimer: these images are taken as 4 second exposures on specialised equipment and processed after. To see what a night sky actually looks like up here, try one of the webcams

lns-spitsbergen.kystnor.no has a great field of view.

The best shows yesterday (October 10th) were at 03:30 and 21:30

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 3d

Are you looking for a sign to run away and live in the Arctic wilderness? Because it's that time of year again where there are so, so many signs.

Green and pink narrow spikes of aurora borealis in a star filled sky

Green and pink aurora borealis (northern lights) in a star filled sky

Mostly pink aurora, with one bold green spike in the centre

Max @paisleystars.bsky.social · 4d

Tell you what, I'll do it for 6 million.