One of the hobbies I have that brings me a lot of enjoyment is photography. It’s something I’ve slowly honed and improved over the years to the point where I’m fairly comfortable with my camera, and with taking photos in most situations. Given how much enjoyment it’s been to me, I thought I would periodically do the odd photo-entry for blogathon and talk a bit about the photos I share. This shot of Kitsilano beach is one of the shots I’m most known for. It’s currently used on the Kitsilano.ca website, and also in a few brochures. I was actually just randomly driving back from UBC ...

In October 2003, there was a massive release of energy from our sun. The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) headed straight for our planet, bombarding it with a massive amount of charged particles. The official classification for the flare was an X17.2, which is one of the top three recorded solar flares in the history of our planet. Photo from here The charged particles disrupted satellite communications in space, and also lead to auroras being seen as far south as the Chicago. I was fortunate enough to be following the activity while it was happening, and was notified via email (via SpaceWeather.com) ...