The Q-Tip of God
I made plans to photograph the November 8, 2022 lunar eclipse over some petroglyphs in Bishop, California. It made sense to photograph something timeless over something ancient. But the weather forecast turned terrible, and a storm was forecast to cover most of California. The trip's goal morphed and became "let's photograph snow at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest." The Bristlecones are the oldest trees on Earth, with some of them reaching 5000 years old.
As Matthew Saville and I drove from Los Angeles north toward the Sierra mountains, we noticed the storm was predicted to hit the Bristlecone Pine Forest shortly before sunrise. The eclipse might be possible after all!
We set up cameras, expected the worst, and went to bed. I awakened in the twilight before sunrise and a few inches of snow had fallen. I woke up Matt and we ran to collect the cameras, which had been partially buried. As we reviewed the photos in the blustery, well-below-freezing predawn air, we were amazed to see that the storm clouds blew in exactly as the eclipse ended. We had managed to photograph it! We captured the timeless over the ancient after all.
This photo is a stack of about 300 30-second exposures on a Sony A7R3 and a Sigma 20mm f/1.4. I also did a single long exposure, and might post that as well for comparison. Update: here.
The Q-Tip of God
I made plans to photograph the November 8, 2022 lunar eclipse over some petroglyphs in Bishop, California. It made sense to photograph something timeless over something ancient. But the weather forecast turned terrible, and a storm was forecast to cover most of California. The trip's goal morphed and became "let's photograph snow at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest." The Bristlecones are the oldest trees on Earth, with some of them reaching 5000 years old.
As Matthew Saville and I drove from Los Angeles north toward the Sierra mountains, we noticed the storm was predicted to hit the Bristlecone Pine Forest shortly before sunrise. The eclipse might be possible after all!
We set up cameras, expected the worst, and went to bed. I awakened in the twilight before sunrise and a few inches of snow had fallen. I woke up Matt and we ran to collect the cameras, which had been partially buried. As we reviewed the photos in the blustery, well-below-freezing predawn air, we were amazed to see that the storm clouds blew in exactly as the eclipse ended. We had managed to photograph it! We captured the timeless over the ancient after all.
This photo is a stack of about 300 30-second exposures on a Sony A7R3 and a Sigma 20mm f/1.4. I also did a single long exposure, and might post that as well for comparison. Update: here.