Milky Way Nightscape From Great Sand Dunes National Park

I really like revisiting some of my early efforts in night photography by returning to the same (or similar) locations and trying something once... more

by Mike Berenson

Title

Milky Way Nightscape From Great Sand Dunes National Park

Artist

Mike Berenson

Medium

Photograph

Description

I really like revisiting some of my early efforts in night photography by returning to the same (or similar) locations and trying something once again. So with some of my favorite images (I've taken) coming from the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve near Alamosa, Colorado, it doesn't take much to get me to go for another visit. And with the National Parks Service setting up a Night Photography Display in the Visitor Center at the Great Sand Dunes National Park that includes one of my images, I knew I had to stop by and take a look.

Of course, while in the area, I had to do another afternoon scouting mission into the dunes followed by another dark night photography hike under what turned out to be great conditions for Milky Way skies.

I decided that since I already had a couple of images from the area that show the lined patterns in the sand that I wanted to pursue one of the bigger dunes. So I pushed a little further in to identify some good ridgelines that running North/South - in line with the core of the Milky Way I anticipated would appear to the South.

In the dark night, I headed out with my first challenge being to get across the river/stream. This may not sound like a big deal, but I was determined to get across without getting my feet wet or having to take my boots off as I wanted to make sure to stay warm - both heading out and coming back. This is where my afternoon scouting run and GPS tracking came in very handy.

Once I found my way to the dune I wanted, I started climbing up the leeward side and found unconsolidated sand. I could hear the sand make an audible sound as I climbed and the sand rushed downhill - much like unconsolidated snow would behave on a steep slope. When I got to the top, I was disappointed to find that the partly cloudy skies had so much build-up to the south that it pretty much blocked the best, brightest parts of the Milky Way. But after some patience, the skies started looking much better - allowing me to capture the scene I had in-mind with leading lines, Milky Way skies, and light pollution glow over the small mountain town of Alamosa, Colorado.

I was thankful for the calm conditions that allowed for my captures. As soon as I finished, the wind picked up and blew sand into my gear, my clothes, my hair, nose, ears, mouth, and more. I'm glad I was done because the wind having picked up would have brought an end to my shooting anyway. I'm just glad that pesky sand didn't do too much damage. It appears that it did claim the trigger on my favorite light painting flashlight… oh well, better than a lens.

This composite image comes from exposures captured in Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve near Alamosa, Colorado with my Nikon D800 and Nikon 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens. The bulk of the content comes from an exposure with settings of ISO 6400, f/2.8 for 30 seconds. I added a little light painting on the near dune in another exposure with settings of ISO 800, f/2.8 for 30 seconds.

Uploaded

July 22nd, 2013