Fall is my favorite season of the year. The leaves change to gold, creating a beautiful new color palette, and the lakes and their endless reflections duplicate the beauty. Usually, in Alaska, in autumn, the trees go from green to brown without much gold, but this year, they turned perfectly gold.

On early September 16, a massive solar storm created breathtaking auroras around the world. I spent the whole day monitoring the data and planning my shot for that night. My concept was to capture the vibrant fall colors illuminated by the rising moon with the northern lights in the background and their reflections on the lake.

I arrived early at the location I had scouted for this particular image. After setting up my camera and composition, I waited for the magic moment. The moon was nearly full, rising a bit earlier than the sunset. I waited for the moon to rise above the trees in the east, illuminating the fall colors by the lake but not too high to wash out the northern lights. The recently set sun left some blue sky. Thanks to the huge solar storm, I didn't need to wait long for Lady Aurora to start to appear. I was in awe that everything was coming together as I had dreamed. There it was, the perfect scene and perfect reflection! Click!