THREE HOURS OF SLEEP
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Oh man.
I got maybe three hours of sleep.
I didn't go to bed as soon as I got back to my room because I needed to transfer my photos to my hard drive. I also needed to study them for that evening's shooting.
One thing I've noticed during these night shoots is that I always think I've taken hundreds of photographs.
Then I get back and look at the files.
Maybe 30 to 50.
I keep telling myself, keep shooting, keep shooting.
But I guess there's something about standing out in the darkness that messes with your head. It feels like you've been clicking away forever, but apparently I haven't.
Eventually, I forced myself to go to sleep.
Three hours later...
I was back up.
SOME THINGS ARE WORTH LOSING SLEEP OVER
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I got dressed and met Ian and two other photographers outside near the motel lobby.
Where was everyone else?
Sleeping.
At the time, I thought that was a pretty smart move.
Maybe it's just me, but whenever there is some sort of astronomical event, I try to make the effort to witness it myself.
I always think, when will I have this opportunity again?
Clouds could roll in. Something else could interfere. There are no guarantees that I'll get another chance.
Lacking sleep is part of the deal when it comes to doing day and night photography.
We drove to a location where we would have a clear view of the northeastern horizon. We arrived about a couple of hours before sunrise because we were hoping to capture something that’s best seen only twice a year, in spring and fall.
We set up our cameras and waited.
As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we started to see it.
There it was.
A faint glow rising into the sky.
Like a spotlight calling Batman.
The zodiacal light.
Zodiacal light is basically a faint, narrow, triangular glow in the sky caused by sunlight reflecting off tiny dust particles floating throughout our solar system.
It's subtle, but under a dark sky, you can actually see it.
Zodiacal light and Jupiter before dawn, with the faint winter Milky Way crossing through the sky.
And this was exactly why I was willing to sacrifice a little sleep.
THE LAST FULL DAY
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Today was the last full day of our workshop.
I was really bummed.
The days had flown by so fast, and I was having such a good time.
We returned to our rooms and took a short nap. We had another class scheduled, although I think a few of us were on the brink of delirium after that early morning wake-up call.
We did some more processing, and a couple of the photographers actually had to step out because they were just too tired.
Me?
For some unknown reason, I was wired.
Maybe it was because of that breakthrough I'd had with Photoshop. I was actually excited to see what I could do with my photographs now that the process had finally clicked.
The last class was finally over, and it was time to get ready for dinner.
And guess where?
Yep. The Salty Steer.
Haha.
It was an easy choice, and they had pretty good food.
This time, though, I decided to try the ricotta cheese ravioli with mushroom sauce. It came with three sirloin strips, garlic bread and a side salad.
I should have told them to hold the sirloin. I don’t particularly like red meat and rarely eat it.
I should have stuck with the salmon.
The ravioli was kind of bland, and it definitely wasn't as good as the salmon I'd had the night before.
At least my body was fueled for the evening.
ONE LAST NIGHT
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We finished dinner and returned to our rooms to gather our gear.
Then we headed out for one last evening of shooting.
We ended up going to the location we had scouted the day before, but this time the plan was to photograph star trails.
I brought two cameras because I had a feeling I was going to want to photograph two different things.
My regular camera was set up to shoot star trails, along with my GoPro.
My astro-modified camera was set up on my star tracker in a different location to photograph the Milky Way.
Basically, I was bouncing back and forth between the two setups, which were a couple hundred feet apart.
WAITING FOR THE STARS TO MOVE
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Instead of hanging out next to our cameras, we set up chairs near our cars and let the cameras do their thing.
The star trails would take about an hour or two to capture.
So we sat back, had some hot cocoa and chatted about whatever crossed our minds while enjoying the quiet evening under the stars.
It was actually pretty relaxing.
Then we saw it.
Clouds.
Coming in from the west.
Dang it!
We went to check on our cameras.
And...
Double dang it.
I had bumped the camera that was set up for the star trails.
When you're photographing star trails, the camera needs to stay completely still while it captures the stars moving across the sky. If you bump it, the trails can become squiggly lines instead of the nice, smooth concentric circles you were trying to create.
Well, that’s it for star trails.
I turned off the camera and walked away, trying not to disturb anyone else's gear.
Avoiding kicking tripods at night can be a task all on its own.
ONE LAST MILKY WAY SHOT
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I went over to my second camera to see if it was still shooting.
Thankfully, it was.
This time I was using a 50mm lens, hoping to capture a closer view of the Milky Way.
At least one of my cameras was cooperating.
I GUESS I'M THE MODEL
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As we were getting ready to pack everything up for the night, one of the photographers wanted to try a flashlight photo.
I was actually doing my own little photo shoot.
My astro-modified camera was on a tripod at the top of the hill, while my regular camera was on another tripod at the bottom. I wanted to get a photograph of myself with the Milky Way behind me, which meant I was running up and down the hill trying to get myself into just the right position.
Back and forth.
Again and again.
Apparently, I was my own model, photographer and lighting assistant.
I don't usually like being in front of the camera because I'm pretty camera shy. But since I'd mostly be a silhouette against the night sky, I didn't mind.
Then another photographer suggested pointing the flashlight toward the sky.
Well, I was already there.
I guess I was the flashlight model.
And because I had a pretty bright flashlight, it actually worked out really well. The number of stars we could see was just breathtaking.
Reaching for the Stars
One of the photographers wanted to try a flashlight shot on our last night in the Badlands, so I became the model, pointing the beam into a sky full of stars.
Photo by: Lisa Manifold
GOODBYES
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Eventually, we packed everything up and started saying our goodbyes.
I was grateful that I had the opportunity to meet everyone, and also grateful that we were all able to get along.
Sometimes you just get those one or two people who think they rule the world.
But not this group.
It was a fun group of people where we could learn from one another.
We finally said our goodbyes and headed back to the motel.
I had actually organized all of my stuff before we went out for the evening, so all I had to do the next morning was load everything into the car.
Yep. Time to go. Another adventure was waiting.
