Russell Graves
- Nov 12, 2023
- 3 min read

Academy Weekend - Nature Photography Workshop

Just like that, the inaugural Nature Photography Academy Photography Workshop is complete. Since last March, five dedicated nature photographers came from across Texas to learn more about nature photography as a cohort. They studied macro, field craft, landscape photography, astrophotography, and other disciplines related to nature photography. We worked on composition almost all the time and shared experiences where the entire group learned from me and, most importantly, from one another.

Every month, we’d spend time in person at Hackberry Farm and a couple of sessions on Zoom so we could reinforce and maximize our learning opportunities. To wrap it all up, however, we spent a weekend afield.

This year, we mutually decided to spend the weekend in Northwest Texas. There, we benefitted from good landscape photography, ample wildlife, and skies as dark and clear as you’ll find anywhere. It was the perfect place to practice the disciplines we honed during our time in the Academy Photography Workshop.

We saw (and photographed) a bunch of cool stuff, but perhaps the most amazing thing was the red glow in the northern sky. While I initially thought it was the aurora borealis, it was actually another atmospheric phenomenon. It was a SAR Arc.

According to the website watchers.news, “On November 5, 2023, observers across the globe were treated to a striking light show, courtesy of a G3 – Strong geomagnetic storm. This solar event was powerful enough to push the typically high-latitude auroras into lower latitudes, with sightings as far south as Texas and Arizona in the United States, as well as in European countries like Italy and Greece. Sightings were also reported in Australia and New Zealand.

Initial reports suggested these lights were auroras, but a closer examination revealed a different story. The red glows captured in images were identified as “SAR arcs,” a term dating back to their discovery in 1956.

Unlike auroras, which are created by charged particles from space interacting with the Earth’s atmosphere, SAR arcs originate from a different process. They signal the presence of heat energy escaping into the upper atmosphere from the Earth’s ring current system. This system, shaped like a doughnut, encircles our planet, carrying a current measured in millions of amperes.”

The article goes on to say that, “The G3 – Strong geomagnetic storm that occurred on Sunday, November 5, 2023, was the result of a one-two punch from two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that had left the Sun on November 2 and 3.

The initial CME set the stage, but it was the compounded effect of the two that led to the geomagnetic storm classified as G3, indicating strong effects that can have impacts on satellite operations, power grids, and navigation systems on Earth.”

The sighting was delightful and a perfect way to end a remarkable first year of the Nature Photography Academy.

If you are interested in the Nature Photography Academy Photography Workshop, we’ll launch the 2024 class soon. Dates and details to follow...