Leonid Meteor Shower #2
Pigeon Lake, Alberta

The Leonid Meteor Shower in the early hours of November 18, 2001 lived up to expectations by providing an impressive display of natural fireworks. It was weird though as I was heading out to this location, driving down a normally deserted stretch of two lane at 1:30 in the morning and seeing cars parked at almost every approach, their occupants sitting quietly in the darkness in anticipation of the show. I wondered if I would arrive at my destination to find ten other photographers already jockeying for position to set up their tripods. Fortunately, I had the whole beach to myself.

The meteor shower was spectacular. Anywhere you looked there was always some activity, and occasionally a particularly brilliant streak or flash would draw your attention to another part of the sky. Strangely though, despite the fact that I was working two cameras, I only managed to capture a few meteor trails. Just the same, it was worth the lost sleep and braving below freezing temperatures just to be out there and experience it first hand.