I am not sure this image will ever win a photography contest, but as soon as we get home, it is getting printed and will forever hang on our wall. It is a composite of two images taken moments apart on a fixed tripod. As you can see, there is a frame for the rock covered in ancient petroglyphs and a frame for the stars. I could easily Photoshop in a galactic core image showing the brilliant center of the galaxy, but for me, that would ruin the picture.
The Sky shot for over fifteen seconds at 2500 ISO
The rock shot with a bit of warm light from a Lumicube
I have and most likely always will have a primal fear of the darkness in the wild. It took a lot of courage and the company of my wife to drive miles out on a dirt road in total darkness, hike up a cliff and set up the tripod to get this image, but here it is at the bottom of this blog.
The real story is not that Anita sang showtunes to keep the animals away, it is not the technical aspects of the photograph. It isn't even how it turned out. Even though I love it, I know there are better conditions to get this shot in.
The real story is what happened as we got back to the truck. As we made our way off the cliff and onto the dirt road, I looked to the Northwest as saw exactly what I expected, the galactic core. What I didn't realize was how perfectly it was aligned with the dirt road. I said to Anita - One more shot, even though I knew I would have to get one of the stars and then play around lighting the road as if it led directly into the milky way.
I managed to get the tripod legs extended and then it happened. As Anita was starting another show tune, we both heard a guttural growl with a bit of a trilling at the end. It was close. We disagree on how close, but I would say less than 100 feet. Anita thought closer.
"GET IN THE TRUCK!" I said softly and calmly. NO, not my side, get in the passenger seat. “You get in the passenger seat” she calmly replied. Just as I was about to formulate a very convincing argument that she should go around the truck, closer to the gentle, harmless animal that made the noise, I saw Anita climb over the center console a swiftly as a Pronghorn Antelope. I then realized there was no need for an extended dialog about the matter. I quickly, not as quickly as she jumped in the passenger seat, but quickly threw the tripod in the back of the truck and took my rightful place in the driver's seat. I was relieved when the truck started. The windows were up, the truck was running, and the lights were on. There was no need for all the adrenaline...the adrenaline kept flowing. We were about half a mile down the dirt road when we both started laughing.
Was it the ghost of an ancient artist objecting to Anita regaling the wilderness with modern music? Was it a mountain lion? What about a black bear? We will never know.
All I know is that this photo will always hang on our wall and forever remind us of the night we got up the courage to go deep into the wild night and got scared $#!t-less.
The final image
If you would like to purchase this image or just see a higher resoltion version, just click on the final image and it will take you over to one of my Fine Art America pages. There is no charge to click and expand the image if you just want to see the details.