Sunday, September 8, 2013

Frontenac Galaxy

















I found another cool tree to photograph against the night sky.  The only problem is that it's over 300 miles away from where I live!  Located in Frontenac State Park just south of Red Wing, MN, this tree makes a phenomenal foreground for a shot of the night sky.  Jessica noticed the tree and pointed it out as we were heading to dinner in Red Wing after setting up our campsite in the park.  I made a mental note to stop on the way back and see what it looked like with a star-filled sky above it.  As we made our way back to the park after dinner, I found myself getting anxious in anticipation of what the scene would look like.  As soon as I saw the stars above and behind the tree I knew I had to photograph it.  

It was a bit of a scramble to get beneath the tree as it is situated on top of a rather steep hill on the side of the road as you drive into the state park.  Once I made it up the hill and had my camera set up I started making exposures and right away got frustrated by the number of airplanes moving across the sky!  Airplanes streaking through your night shots are rarely a problem in northern Minnesota.  I had to wait about 5 minutes before there wasn't a single airplane in my shot, then wait anxiously while the 30 second exposure recorded, hoping all the while that another plane would not fly into the shot.  After about 10 tries, I finally got one without an airplane :-)

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