Thank you to everyone that responded to helping me out! The most popular photo was of the Fall Path down through the woods. Fun fact, that was taken with my pocket camera on a day I trucked 8 miles. When going through my photos on the trail challenge folder, I saw that one and fell in love with it again.
I am pretty shy about photo contests. Yesterday I visited our County Fair and looked at the photo displays and the flower displays. So much beauty!
Anyhoo, I did enjoy my night hike. I got there just as the sun was setting. I walked over to one of the ponds to photo the sunset.
Imagine my shock of seeing the result of the drought on the pond that was full this spring! This is the view from the blind. Aurora would know how the pond usually looks....
Wow...
The sunset was rather pretty. And even if it was a bit boring, I liked it because the skies were clear!
Slowly but surely the Milky Way started to become apparent in the SW skies. The glow at the bottom of the photo is from LaFarge Wisconsin.
Then I tried one with me in it...
It turned out just with my legs showing, but that is okay.
I turned to the North to watch the Big Dipper.
In 15 minutes, it made some star trails that were pretty amazing...
I guess it is disappointing to see all the trails of the satellites and airplanes that show up in the night sky. But it is what it is! Still, it was beautiful.
I tried to get some reflections of the stars in one of the ponds. The ponds are pretty scummy and dry but heck. I got what I got!
It took me a few hours and a LOT of experimenting to get these shots. I've had some acquaintances ask to go with me on these night hikes. I do love the company, but I'm not sure they would tolerate all the fiddling I do to try and get 'that' shot that is decent.
Is photography a solo 'sport'???
I took a lot of shots and they didn't all turn out the way that I wanted of course.
I had some fun while walking back to the car. I thought I'd frame myself in the opening of a covered bridge.
Then I added the moon as if I were doing Wall Balls in CrossFit. I had a good laugh over that.
And this last shot. It has the moon added too. It would be impossible to see the Milky Way with a full moon...but I thought it was neat.
Enjoy the night skies if you can get to a 'dark skies' area.
I smiled all the way home on the drive.
Night skies are amazing if you can see them.
I feel like I just attended an award winning photography exhibition. All of these photographs are just outstanding!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that is such a nice compliment, thank you. I enjoy photography as an expression of personal art. I am too timid to ever really try an exhibition!
DeleteThere were a lot of flubs during that walk and shots that did not turn out, but it was a great learning experience.
I like going with like minded photographers they understand that practice makes perfect:) I should get out into the yard at night but usually I am so darn tired:( You did great and got some way cool shots!
ReplyDeleteI do night photography when my sleeping patterns are all wonky which has happened luckily for me all this week.
DeleteI think that yes, photography overall is solo. I agree, you got some fantastic photos.
ReplyDeleteSo for the star trails, you set the timer for a 15 minute exposure? I have wanted to try that. If I can ever stay up long enough! We do get lovely night skies here.
ReplyDeleteI like the creative moon "shots".
I have an Olympus camera that I can set up to take a photo every 4 seconds for a time I choose. It composites all photos into one automatically. It is called a Livecomp feature. Most other camera brands have to take individual shots and then put them together with a photo program that will align the star trails.
DeleteThis is one of the reasons I switched brands.
A normal 15 minute exposure wouldn't work very well.