20190831_reservation_lake-2 - [explore 20210929]

Hardware: Nikon D750, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Settings: 14mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, and exposure 30s

 

I submitted this image to the Arizona Highways magazine 2020 photo contest. It required a title and description. I struggled most with a title, and ultimately called it "Camping Reflections" based on my description below:

 

I am an amateur photographer and decided that while camping at Big Lake, I would attempt to photograph the milky way over the lake. Camping at Big Lake is something of a tradition among the men in our family, and on this trip I was with my brothers-in-law and two of my nephews. I’d researched some locations as well as various tips/tricks to get a starting point for capturing something worth printing. I drove out to Reservation Lake the night before and took several shots of the milky way, which I shared with my nephews the following morning. The night this photo was taken, I’d calculated the drive and setup time so I could be in position to shoot the galactic center of the milky way. It had rained heavily at the campground all afternoon, and was still cloudy as it approached the time to leave. I was hesitant to go as I believed more rain was coming, but decided to give it a shot at the last minute. As I informed the family of my intentions, much to my surprise, but my nephews both jumped up and said, “we want to come.”

 

We got there, setup the gear, and waited to see what the night had in store. As luck would have it, there were clouds blocking our view. We watched, waited, and managed to get several shots between cloud banks. Just when we thought we would have to call it a night, the clouds overhead started to thin. Soon, we had an unobstructed view of the milky way, and could see the occasional flicker of lighting off to the southwest. We saw the thunderstorm was moving into view when my nephew asked if we could “get the lightning too.” We spent the next hour playing with the settings trying to find a setup that worked for both the storm and milky way. We progressed to a point where we’d open the shutter, and hope that we could get a flash of lightning during the exposure.

 

I struggled to title this picture as it captured so much in one image. The power of the storm crossing the horizon, the sound of the rolling thunder, the insignificance felt standing under all those stars, the glow of the warm campfires across the lake… But the feelings the image is unable to convey is the fun we had capturing it, the excitement we felt when the lightning would flash during an exposure, nor the anticipation waiting for the image to be saved so that we could view it. Over the years our camper ranks have dwindled. Primarily as the younger generations graduate and move on to college or careers. It won’t be much longer until, like my son, my nephews will have obligations preventing them from camping with us. But every time I look at the image I will be reminded of that night and how much it meant to me.

Done