Saturday, September 24, 2016

Night Sky over the Ancient Bristlecone Trees


















Well, this was one of my bucket list items in terms of photography.  Photographing the night sky over the Ancient Bristlecones was a dream come true.  Ever since first hearing about these trees a long time ago I've wanted to visit them.  It was awesome, to say the least, to finally be able to see them and bask in their presence.  At night the trees take on a whole other magical feel.  I can't wait to go back and photograph them more at night.  I think I need to move to California... that way I can spend lots of time with them :-)  

One of the things that was really amazing and totally different than back home in Minnesota is how many stars we could see even with the bright light of a half-moon.  The clear air up at 10,000 feet sure makes a difference in that respect.  With this kind of moonlight in northern Minnesota you wouldn't see nearly this many stars.  We could even see the ribbon of the Milky Way Galaxy clearly in the sky.  That basically never happens in Minnesota. If you've got moonlight in Minnesota, you can't see the ribbon of the Milky Way except for a little while when the moon first rises. Once it's high up in the sky, you really can't see the Milky Way.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy these images.  I sure had a lot of fun making them :-)



















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