10/11/2024
Last night was an experience I’ll never forget. All of the right conditions came together for me to finally get the exact shots that have been living in my head the last 4 years - a highliner in Michigan contrasted with an aurora backdrop.
So many factors play into being able to pull this off.
1. Bright enough auroras that they show up on a short exposure to have the highliner be sharp
2. Clear skies
3. A highline rigged for the night
4. Clear view of the north horizon(which wasn’t as necessary for this historically powerful storm that brought auroras dancing in every direction of the sky)
5. Having a talented highliner with enough stoke to commit to staying out all night to get the shot
This was my third attempt at capturing this idea. The first was a couple years ago with my friend Joehl, where there were auroras forecasted, and we specifically rigged this same line and hung out next to it all night waiting, with the auroras being a bust.
The second was this past Saturday when I had my friend Mark drive 6hrs to the UP from Chicago to do a sunrise highline shoot. Going into the evening, I realized this giant storm was forecasted, but it ended up not hitting Earth until a couple days later, after we would already have the highline down.
For the third successful attempt, my buddy Rodolfo from Florida decided to visit Michigan for his first time, with plans to put up a highline for a day. After a successful sunrise shoot, I saw the notifications that the auroras were going to be at record breaking numbers, and was able to convince him to stick around for one more day so that we could pull off this mission I had been envisioning for so long. That wasn’t too difficult because he had just seen an incredible display for his first time the night prior on his drive over from Minnesota. Combining our love for highlining with the magical experience of watching the night sky dance was a no brainer.
I had been troubled with my truck not starting for the past week, and was able to finally get it working right as the sun was setting. As we drove out on CR 550, I could swear there was some activity visible in the sky above. Once we parked, this was confirmed by a vibrant and textured display directly overhead. I started scrambling to gather my camera and rappel gear as fast as possible to make sure we didn’t miss the moment. I came to find out that all my camera batteries were dead, so I started charging them on the hike out, giving me just enough juice to start shooting while others charged more. I was literally running down the trail ahead of Rodolfo and his brother to get my rappel rope set up so that I could get the right angle slightly beneath the highliner. I started getting my camera settings dialed in as Rodolfo prepared to get on the line. There was minimal activity visible over the horizon, when suddenly it started exploding. We exclaimed in joy and hurried to get him out on the line for the perfect moment. As I was hanging off the cliff edge watching the auroras dance around a highliner, I was in utter disbelief that this was finally happening. It was one of, if not the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had. The rest of the night was filled with simply staring up in the sky in amazement.
