Photographer’s Notes Perhaps not my best photo of 2013. Certainly not my most lucrative photo of 2013. But among my favorites and a labor of love. Read on.
Last Spring, I became interested in shooting the Milky Way and not just anywhere, but rather the Milky Way rising above Mt. Rainier. It took a lot of planning to determine when: 1) Mt. Rainier was accessible due to snow; 2) The Milky Way would be in the right position; 3) On a date with no moon; 4) On a night when I wouldn’t have to work the next day; and 5) When the skies would be clear and dry. I’ll spare you the details but the short ride is that I would have perhaps 3 short windows of about 5 days in which to shoot.
Then I had to read up on star photography (there’s a lot here at DPC) and add some key software to my kit (Photographer’s Ephemeris iOS app, for example). I made a practice run before the first window. Shot with a friend during the first window and got decent results. Second window there was too uch moon to see the Milky Way and it was too humid. This photo is from the third window, which occurred in September.
Early in September on a 14,000 foot mountain is unlikely to produce favorable weather. When I arrived at the mountain, it was about 40 degrees and raining steadily. I hunkered down in the car to wait out the weather, which was forecast to improve. 9:00 PM, 10:00 PM, … 11:00 PM and the weather clears. I shot about half a dozen images successively higher on the mountain and the weather closed in for good.
So this photo was 6 months in the making. It took four 200-mile drives. And it cost me 4 nights sleep and seemingly countless hours of editing the take for the trips. No wonder it’s a favorite.
You should see it full res. 800 pixels and 300K are crimes against nature.
Elysium
See how this photograph was created!
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
