a couple weeks back, i found out that the Perseid meteor shower was taking place over the weekend. I've always been super excited when hearing news like this. the whole space/astronomy idea has always been so fascinating to me because its truly the one thing in our world that we will never know anything about. astronomers, scientists, even John Glenn will never figure out what's floating around hundreds of millions of light years away. every time i stared up gazing at a clear night sky, I'm always amazed at just how much I'm looking at. so when there is a bunch of fireball rocks flying across the sky, do you go out and shoot? fuck yea.
it was a pretty last minute decision to go out looking for a good location. i didn't want to stray away too far from home so my first pick was going out to davenport since it's one of my favorite places to shoot, especially the milky way. its far enough from the city's light pollution so a very star lit sky was promising... well until someone texted me and told me that it was super cloudy there. so i decided to head up north since south was plastered in clouds. i had asked a couple of homies to go but a bunch of texts back and forth, i decided to just go alone. when i finally made it up to Mt. Tam, it was pitch dark. I sat outside for awhile with my camera and tripod but i kept hearing branches and noises all around me and not being able to see anything definitely tripped me out. I ended up just locking myself in the car and shooting out the moon roof for about 2 hours. the sky wasn't as dark as i would've liked, i was still too close to the city but after a couple hundred of long exposures, i was able to capture one that i really liked. the photo above is compiled of over 150 images stacked.
Although i am not totally stoked not the final shot, the fact that I now can say i was able to witness a meteor shower is pretty dope. it's definitely not easy capturing shooting stars. these things fly by super fast and if you're not positioned or firing at the right split second, you will miss it. i decided to just let me camera run for an hour while i just stared up and it was much better watching the stars fly across in every direction with my eyes.
stars
MILK RUN AT THE ARCHES
TravelCommentWith the lack of free time in the past couple of weeks, I just haven't been able to shoot as often as before. The frustration of not having the time, and when I did have time, I had no energy.. all that gets built up and I feel like I'm about to lose it. Yesterday I actually had a free day, a completely free day with no obligations to do anything at all so of course I had to cap on the opportunity to go out and shoot. I forgot how much I missed just hitting the road and aimlessly explore. Somehow, I just always end up back here; Davenport. It's definitely getting a bit too popular these days. The past 3 times I've been back, I've ran into people and its cool and not cool at the same time as one of my favorite spots is becoming a place I try to avoid now. It's definitely sketchy getting down to the arches, and only the brave will take on the climb down. Definitely give props to the people I've met down on the beach here because I remember the first time I climbed down, I was pretty fuckin' scared. It's always entertaining watching people climb down and climb back up for their first time, but just be warned.
The first time that I ever shot the Milky Way was about 3 years ago up on the west side of Lake Tahoe. I can still remember that experience, it definitely felt like a lifetime achievement for me. It meant a lot for me back then because it was something that I never thought of capturing since it was definitely unexpected. These days, I see Milky Way shots way too often but I'm glad that I caught it when I did because it really meant something to me. As we approach the end of Summer, I decided that tonight would be the perfect time to try and get it. Clear skies, chill night, New Moon, couldn't have asked for anything better. The experience of shooting stars and the Milky Way is always awesome. When you see your photo process, you're immediately in awe.
fuck, there it is.
