Milky Way over Mt. Reynolds Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana Willie, Alan, and I spent a week at Glacier National Park back in August and the trip was everything but what we expected. This particular night was about the only night that went as we intended. The weather forecast seemed great before we arrived but we witnessed poor conditions after poor conditions. For 2 days we couldn't even see our feet the fog was so thick. On our first night the clouds stayed away and we did the one thing we planned on: getting some Milky Way shots from Logan Pass. I had seen this waterfall earlier in the evening and photographed it as the last light hit Mt. Reynolds, disappeared, the stars came out, and eventually the Milky Way moved into position. I knew that Milky Way would eventually move parallel to the right edge of Mt. Reynolds but I didn't realize how long it would take. It wasn't until around midnight that it got dark enough and the Milky Way moved far enough to the right. I used a 4 image focus stack to make sure the entire scene came out in focus. As you'll notice the sky doesn't entirely look as sharp as it could. I rented the lens from BorrowLenses and it quickly became clear that this particular copy of the lens had some serious coma flare issues. I did my best to get rid of some of it but eventually removing it became tedious and I gave up. BorrowLenses customer service was awesome and I was given a coupon for the price of the rental to use another time! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: Sky: 24mm, f/1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 3200 Foreground: 4 images, 24mm, f/10, ISO 100
MoonriseMoonrise and Last Light on Half Dome Yosemite National Park, California Every year I travel to Yosemite around my birthday in May and my camera is always with me. One photo I have always wanted was the moonrise over Half Dome. At this point in my photography career I didn't know enough to calculate when this would happen and I just kept hoping I would be in the park at the right time to catch it. Although this evening wasn't that night I was excited when I saw the moon pop up over the meadow near Yosemite Falls. I was driving back to our campsite with my girlfriend at the time when I noticed the moon and the last light on Half Dome. I immediately asked her to stop the car so I could take some photos. After receiving the evil eye ... she was hungry after all ... she relented and pulled over. I grabbed the tripod and snapped away as quickly as I could. It wasn't until she had been fed and the smile returned to her face that I was able to finally relax and enjoy the photos I had just taken. Nikon D80 w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5: 27mm, f/4.5, ISO 320 (Please excuse the poor settings, I didn't really know what I was doing back then)
Sunset at Factory Butte Hanksville, Utah I love exploring the South West. There's about the landscape down there that's just so captivating. Perhaps it's because the landscape changes so vastly: from giant red rock canyons, to grand vistas, to mesas, arches, slot canyons, rivers, desert, badlands ... the list goes on. I always love exploring a new area and our trip to Factory Butte, in Southern Utah, was no different. Willie, David, and I spent a long weekend down near Hanksville Utah, exploring the badlands around. On our first night, before David arrived, we had been scouting around Factory Butte when we came upon this little wash. We loved how the S-curve of it drew the eye in towards the Butte. Luckily for us, a few clouds caught some color as the sun set. It was quite a windy night: we had pitched the tent before sunset and I was surprised to find the tent still there when we got back from taking photos. Apparently the rocks I stuck inside the tent had saved us! I gave up on sleeping in the tent and slept in the car ... that is until about 3am when I heard “Meyers! Help!” Willie was trapped in the tent, getting tossed in the wind! We quickly disassembled the tent and spent the rest of the night in the car. Lets just say we were glad to get out of the wind :) Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 26mm, f/13, 1/30 sec, ISO 100
