Night Photography, Big Bend National Park, Texas

If you want to take pictures of the stars, the Milky Way in particular, you will be better off if you find a location with dark skies. In Sonoma County there are no night skies that are truly dark. It may look dark, but when shooting the Milky Way to the south, with a long exposure, the lights from the city will show at the horizon. And, you will likely have airplane trails in most of your frames. One place with truly dark skies is Big Bend National Park in Texas. And not airplanes! I have been there a few times with Andy Cook of Rocky Mountain Reflections (great workshops by the way). This first image is of the old movie set located west of Lajitas along highway 170.

This view was taken not only a few yards away. It was totally dark and I could not see the river with my naked eye, but the person I was with reassured me it was there. The camera can see so much more than the naked eye.

This picture was also taken in Big Bend National Park. We walked into Santa Elena Canyon in the dark, found a safe ledge and got this image overlooking the Rio Grand River as it emerges from the canyon.

After photographing at Big Bend I like to stop over near McDonald Observatory. The skies here, like at big bend, are dark. If you time your visit right you may be treated to a star party sponsored by the observatory. On this occasion I was fortunate to be able to attend one. During the narrative the presenter asked if there was anyone in the audience 40 years old. A lady raised her had and then the presenter pointed out a star whose light we were looking at on this night left the year she was born. When I got home I looked up a star that left on my day of birth.

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