milkyway and crater lake, crater lake national park

I waited a week in portland for the opportune moment to visit crater lake national park. Full moon was no good for the photo i had in mind. So as soon as the moon set before the milkyway dipped below the horizon, i drove to watchman overlook for this shot. From that on i started to pay attention to what time do i visit a place and what orientation to shoot in order to get the interesting background in a frame.

For foreground was a 360s expsure blended to a 25s exposure light sky.

nikon d750 +
20mm f1.8, iso 1000, 25s + 20mm, f1.8, iso 1000, 360s

sunrise and half dome, yosemite national park

nikon d750 +
70mm f22, iso 100, 1/30s

waterfall bridge, acadia national park

nikon d750 +
44mm f8, iso 100, 0.6s

sunrise at ruby beach, olympic national park

nikon d750 +
55mm f11, iso100, 1/400s+1/100s two image HDR

misty morning at ruby beach, acadia national park

nikon d750 +
50mm f8, iso 100, 1/640s

sunrise and montauk lighthouse, montauk point, new york

nikon d750 +
38mm f22, iso 100, 1s

voodoo hoodoo, toadstool hoodoos, utah

Light trail is something i use when i don't feel particularly creative enough to represent the natural beauty of the location. Therefore some artifical flavors were added, to give the scene more oomph. But when i look back sometimes i find these pictures a bit overboard, too tacky. Nevertheless i had fun running or driving around all night with lights to create these images so who cares.

The light trail of the hoodoo on the right is blend in to the image with photoshot since i cannot run fast enough to circle all three hoodoos in a 25s exposure.

nikon d750 +
20mm f1.8, iso 1000, 25sx2

sunrise and mesa arch, canyonland national park

nikon d750 +
20mm f16, iso 100, 1/25s

rock formation and floating island, bonneville salt flat, utah

Speaking of stupid decisions, sleep deprivation was definitely a good cause for lots of mine. This image was made on my very first micro trip to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Since it was the first time, I drove around excitedly and it wasn't until 2am when I reached the trail that enters Silver Island Canyon. I looked at the dirt road. It was steep, windy, and lacerated by rain. I looked at my phone. No bars. "It would be an awful idea to drive in" I said to myself while staring into the trail that disappeared into the darkness. Speaking of sleep deprivation and the lack of judgement, "Okay I'm going!" was the next thing i heard myself saying, and so i did. That poor little rental suv fought up the hill, negotiated with deep trenches, and scraped its bottom on dips and bumps. I drove with my heart racing, white knuckled, sweat running down my forehead even in that cold November night. A hour later I reached the other side of the canyon 5 miles away. Exhausted, I slept 3 hours before needing to wake up and catch the next sunrise. After sunrise, I continued my journey around the Silver Islands. The drive was magnificent with sweeping curves, rolling hills and the salt flat that stretched endlessly to the left. I noticed some rock formations on the side and decided to investigated some more. Those rocks were funny because water hollowed them out from the bottom which leaves a thin crust on top like an eggshell. As I walked towards a cliff, I noticed a slot that could probably lead me to the top about 20 feet tall. "It's a dumb idea to climb up" I said to myself. Nevertheless Sleep deprivation won again so "Okay I definitely wanna find out what's up there" was the next thing i decided. So up I climbed. Near the top was where I found this eroded rock that forms a almost perfect circle. I wedged my legs against both sides of the slot in order to lean as far out as I could, leaving nothing but 20 feet of air below me. That's how I took the shot that framed Floating Island nicely in the center of the rock formation. Lots of bad decisions were made only by a man with no sleep. However I like this image a lot and I'm glad that I'm still around to share the story.

nikon d610 +
50mm f8, iso 100, 1/200s