Local Renton artist and graphic designer, Ken Vensel, did what many of us were too tired to do this past Saturday night. He stayed up late and captured amazing photographs of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) from high atop Rattlesnake Ridge. Actually, he did two things. In addition to staying awake, he night-hiked Rattlesnake trail – all to catch the northern lights from an incredible perspective.
On Thursday, July 12th, a large solar flare erupted from the sun’s earth side which sparked colorful auroral lights in southern Canada and the northern United States. The weather cooperated just enough in our area to allow Ken to capture the latest auroral lights event.
On a “small world” note, turns out I actually met Ken at a Christmas party years ago. He is a friend of my husband and they previously worked together. Of course, I didn’t know this when I sent him a message asking permission to use his photographs for this story.
Ken takes a lot of pictures in the Snoqualmie Valley area. You can visit his Facebook page to see some of those other photos, including the beautiful picture of Rattlesnake lake shared on the Living Snoqualmie Facebook page last month. He snowshoes, too, so there are great photos from up at Snoqualmie Pass.
Here are a few of Ken Vensel’s (KCVensel Photography) fantastic Aurora Borealis photos taken from Rattlesnake Ridge on Saturday night. The lights of North Bend are also captured in a couple of the photos and some “light painting” is captured in the last two. The light painting is created by spinning fine steel wool in a whisk after lighting it.
To see more of Ken’s photos of the valley click HERE. Just click the “next” button to scroll through. You won’t be disappointed!
Comments
So Beautiful. I wish I could see it in person.
Beautiful Pictures. : )