my obsession with star trails continues….
this year in vermejo, new mexico i really got after it. and i’m pretty happy with quite a few of them.
Tag Archives: landscape
leaving wyoming
my last day in wyoming, as always, was bitter sweet. i woke up after a long night of star pictures to the fog that had rolled in the night before.
it made the tetons appear as though the were jutting out dramatically from the ocean.
i had a wonderful time, again… as always. and though it was tough to come back to the concrete jungle with 100+ degree weather, i was happy to reunite with my wife and get home.
as i pulled through denver, a rainbow appeared over downtown. i just had a second to get the shot, but i liked how it turned out…
i stayed the night in denver with one of my best friends Adam and his wife Emily, that i don’t get to see often enough.
it was a great end to a great trip. now i really can’t wait for october…
preview: vermejo
i’m sorry for all of these “previews”, but i’m just very anxious to share some of my newest work before i have full posts ready.
as you may know from previous posts (see vermejo, nm, bear encounter: proof, vermejo again, and 4 weeks in vermejo), i have been blessed enough the last three years to have great friends and clients that hire me to go out to vermejo park ranch in new mexico for a few weeks every summer to shoot. and last year, vermejo hired me to come out for another two weeks to shoot for them.
well this year is no different, and i’m back for two weeks in august.
i must admit, it is one of my favorite jobs of all time. i hope it never ends.
so this year, with my new star picture obsession, i decided to try to capture the beauty of this place at night.
here are a few i shot last night…
i’ll share a lot more images when i get back. the internet here is very slow.
wyoming: my remaining days (part 2)
i woke up to a very familiar view.
the night before, i finished working way too late. so i had to stay at my “secret” campsite, that i learned last year is a very active wolf and bear area…
the last time my brother and i were here (see like brothers on a hotel bed), we could hear wolves howling just yards from my tent.
not a sound that lulls one to sleep…
but i didn’t hear that sound, or any for that matter last night. i slept great.
so i decided to scout locations during the day for my night shots.
and again today, i tried to get some shots i’d never thought of… tetons through a moving vehicle…
blurred motorcycle with tetons…
during the middle of the day, when the light’s not all that great for shooting landscapes, i figured i’d take a nap.
and when i woke up, the clouds were really starting to gather in dramatic wyoming fashion…
so, i set up again for the first of many star pictures. i wanted to start at the north end of jackson lake again becuase i thought i could do better than the night before, and it’s the farthest location form all the others.
well, i didn’t do better. it’s a beautiful shot, i think, but no star trails. so i decided to move on.
oxbow bend is a really famous spot for photographers, and for good reason. but i usually shy away from it because of the crowds and the sheer volume of great shots there are from that spot. but, i’ve never seen a really great star photo from oxbow. so i found my spot, and gave it a whirl.
oh, how utterly devistated i was when i got home and saw it on a big screen… BLURRY!!! ugh.
something must have moved the tripod during the 40 minute exposure. ugh. it was so beautiful too…
oh well, have to try again in october…
the next shot i tried was another very famous, very overshot point. snake river overlook. once immortalized by ansel adams himself, this spot is photographed thousands of times every single day. but i am unaware of any night shots there…
i loved the way this one turned out. finally, one of the three actually went as planned!
the fog really started to roll in over the snake river valley. haunting. but i was sad not to be able to see the snake as it actually “snakes” it’s way through the frame from this vantage. oh well, guess i’ll have to shoot it again in october!
then i just wanted a classic, uninhibited shot of the tetons. this was probably the least dynamic of the successful shots of the night.
and then the fog started to roll in. so i kept the tripod set, and continued shooting…
though i missed the first two and came away with only two total that i liked, it was a successful night.
i learned even more about making star pictures, and i also determined a few spots for the next trip. i’m excited about october…
wyoming: my remaining days (part 1)
after elle left, i still had a few days to “work”.
i put work in quotations because most people with think, “work?? you call that work?”
well, yes i do. but i sure do love what i do.
i hung around teton park for the next few days… capturing some old familiar scenes, and looking for new, unique angles.
just before dusk the first night, i came upon a bear jam!
it was a gorgeous adult female. she checked me out for a second, then continued rolling around in the tall grass.
that evening, i perched myself at the north end of jackson lake to capture my first of many star pictures that night.
i have sort of become obsessed with night time landscapes. partly because they are so haunting and beautiful, but also because i never really know what i’m going to get. i’m getting more and more experienced with them, but there’s no way to ever really know what your sensor will record.
variances in the season, position of moon (or lack thereof), light polution, human light sources (i.e. cars, campfires, flashlights, etc.), clouds, etc, all can be major factors in your final outcome. of course, the time of exposure, aperture, and film speed are all very calculated. but so many factors go in to how i determine the exposure. and then of course just the planning during the day to find the right shot. it’s kind of hard to properly frame a shot at night…
anyway, i worked well into the night. each shot was at least a 30 minute exposure. then you add in the drive times between locations… it was a long, but fruitful night.
with the three shots from this night, i was hungry for more.
i would shoot at least that many again the next night. this time at new locations.
i decided that i have shot enough up here during the day… now i’m going to focus on my night shots…
andrew slaton | blog 