Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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Captions: The Stories Behind the Photos
Magnificent Moments in the Night Sky
By Kirsten Swann


Presented by Snapped

Winter brings many things to the Last Frontier: fierce cold, striking amounts of snow and long nights that turn into short days.

The darkness becomes a part of Alaska life.

For years, the dark gave Dora Miller a nagging case of the winter blues. The Talkeetna-based photographer, a member of the Denali Arts Council, said she loved to capture the rugged mountain ranges around her and the wildlife and glaciers abundant across Alaska. But in the winter, the scenes she loved seemed to fade into interminable night.

Then, last March, Miller discovered a light in the darkness. She said she found herself falling in love with the stars over Talkeetna, the constellations and the northern lights flashing on the horizon. Even the vast wilderness she loved to photograph seemed dwarfed by the galaxies glowing overhead. She began to anticipate the long Alaska nights.

Looking back at a year filled with photographs of the state she calls home, there’s one image that stands out in her mind. The photo depicts a sparkling galaxy framed by an ethereal green aurora and spreading upwards from a quiet, snow-covered landscape: Miller said it captures her newfound love for the night.

“Many times we see images of the Milky Way just there, lost in space,” she said. “I wanted to bring it home.”

She said the photo represents the new direction of 2012, the year she embraced the darkness and began chasing the colors in the northern skies. Her hunt for light in the night will continue in 2013, and she said she looks forward to more auroras throughout the winter and spring, and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower in mid-August.

“Alaska has so much beauty!” she said. “I want to share some of the beauty surrounding us, and to have the ability to capture a magnificent moment.”