On 10 May 2024 I received a WhatsApp from a friend. An aurora was forecast over the south of England. Now I get quite a few of these and they generally turn out to be nothing so I had low expectations when I pulled out various apps that seek to forecast this type of event. Well, the apps were very positive and the aurora was expected to be strongest from 2330-0030 so it wasn’t too late and it was a Friday so I thought it was worth a try.

Getting a photo of an aurora is one thing but it can be much more powerful if you can have something recognisable in the photo. Temple Island on the Thames in Henley is really beautiful. I realised that the aurora was forecast to be in the west so if I stood on the east bank of the Thames I had a chance to get the Temple in the foreground and the aurora in the background.

I wandered down the river just after 2300 and headed for Temple Island. I noticed that the Temple was lit up. I hadn’t expected that and it would likely mess up the photo because I would need a slow shutter speed to capture the aurora at it’s best but if I did that the lights would be so bright as to overwhelm the Temple.

I could see the aurora overhead and a mass of colours and took a couple of quick sighting shots. As a landscape photographer you learn to take a few photos quickly when the light is good because it can change really fast. The shots were OK but not great. I then really stared at the aurora and, as my eyes adjusted and I walked further down the river, I noticed that the aurora appeared to be pointing down at the Temple. By carefully moving a few steps to the side I could hide all but one light from the picture.

The lights were still causing a few issues but the aurora was so bright that I only used a 1 second exposure and this was enough to pull out the colours and the reflection on the river was a bonus.