Persied Meteor Shower 2022

Finding The Right Location

I’ve been thinking about a project for a while now. About a year ago, I found a couple books laying around the family cabin by Bill Stillwell and others about scenic locations in Manitoba. Many of those areas were in what are designated as Wildlife Management Areas. WMAs are protected land in Manitoba for nature conservation and human recreation such as hunting, birding, or whatever else. 

One of the areas in that book led me to the confluence of the Souris and Assiniboine Rivers. I noticed it was facing southwest on the map and decided to head out one night as it would line up with the milky way core. That evening produced a photo that I think is unique since not too many people make it out that way. 

There’s another WMA near Winnipeg where I find my favourite crocuses every spring. The limited experience I have with these areas has been pretty positive for my photography, so I decided I wanted to explore more of them. 

Scouting Souris Bend WMA

When brainstorming ideas for where to shoot the Persied meteor shower this year, I decided to look at the places of interest I’ve been starting to list while researching WMAs and chose Souris Bend. It follows along a stretch of the Souris River where there are a lot of twists and turns. 

I had pre-scouted the area using Google Maps satellite view and noted several north facing turns in the river that I thought might provide a nice foreground. Google Maps does not always give the best representation of the area, however, since it's difficult to determine elevation or exactly what the ground will actually look like. 

I had three possible locations in mind when I got to the WMA. I spent the day hiking around on the marked equestrian trails that were actually just flattened grass. Finding the areas that I had selected ahead of time proved to be relatively easy. They were not far off the marked trails. 

Souris Bend has great terrain because you’re down in a valley, but there is still some elevation change towards the river down below. One of the challenges was finding an unobstructed view as trees were growing along the river bank. When I would find a spot that I considered to be a good candidate, I would set up my camera on the tripod and take a trial photo. I’d also mark the location with a photo in Gaia GPS which is a GPS app I’ve been using on my phone. 

It’s a very worthwhile task to figure out the shot you want during the day while you have light. If you wait until night to try to find your foreground, you won’t have as pleasant a time. The last thing you want to be doing is stumbling around in the dark playing guess and check with your camera. 

In total, there were three locations I scouted, and ultimately only one I found acceptable. Driving to one area, however, I passed a nice wheatfield that went right up to the road covering some nice rolling hills with a clear view to the north. 

The Fog

As I got back to the car, I learned that Environment Canada had issued a fog warning for the area which was a bit discouraging. I wasn’t entirely shocked by this though, the way 2022 has been going so far. Clear skies for an astronomy event, something has to go wrong.

I was determined to try and get my shot anyway, though the information certainly did change my game plan for execution. I figured I would just make a short trip into the river with one camera, capture the foreground, then hike out quickly. Next I would drive up the road a few km and set up my camera with a star tracker beside to my car. 

As it was getting darker, I got ready to hike back in. Starting the trail, I could see a bright orange moon rising on the horizon. It’s always a pleasure to watch the moon rise. As I got about halfway in, the fog rolling in. It wasn’t bad at first. I was able to make it directly to my chosen spot without difficulty. I wanted to focus on my foreground as I thought I would be shooting the sky later from another location and blending the photo. I was able to get set up and take half a dozen 30 second exposures before the fog started to roll in and obstruct my shot. 

Since I wouldn’t be able to get any more data from that location, I decided to head back to the car. The fog was so thick in the field that I could barely see 50 feet in front of me. The full moon certainly helped with visibility, though it negatively impacts viewing the stars. 

Again, the GPS and the familiarity with the area from having been in there that same afternoon was so valuable for not only getting the shot, but getting back to the car without any hassle. As I could see the car, I looked back at the fog filling the valley under the full moon. I needed a moment to just stand there and soak it in. It would be a while before I had another opportunity to witness a scene like that. 

Once back to the car and a short trip to my next location, I was set up to capture the stars. The wheatfield did look quite nice, but I could see fog forming in the lower areas of the field. I took a few shots before it became too much. The photo below was just a single exposure. After that, there wasn’t much opportunity for shooting so it was home to bed. On the drive home, the fog got really bad and the trip took twice as long as the way in as I was driving only 30-70km/h in a 100 zone depending on how thick the fog was at that moment. 

The next night, I set up at the Northcote School which is where I got the night sky and few meteors I used in my meteor shower composite photo.

The abandoned school made for an interesting foreground, so I made sure to capture a photo while I was there.