California Dreaming

On the first day of my San Francisco layover in August, I drove south towards Big Sur. This area appeared to be the least affected by the smoke from the forest fires. I was hoping to shoot the Milky Way at some of the famous spots along the coastal highway, but unfortunately there was solid fog in the lower elevations. After searching around for quite a while, I finally found a rather hairy dirt road that took me towards the coastal ridge and above the fog.

 

The landscape up there was a California cliché: Sun bathed, rolling hills with solitary Oak trees above the low laying sea fog and California Condors soaring high above my head. It was immediately clear that this was my place to stay for the night.

 

After a laid back afternoon, I did some scouting for nightscape compositions. While checking the Milky Way alignment at this nice little valley, a truck arrived below me and I walked down the greet the new arrival. While chatting, we found that we actually knew each other and I was pleased to meet fellow landscape astrophotographer Henry Hungerland

 

I learned from Henry that I had accidentally stumbled over one of the best spots for nightscape photography in the area. After shooting the sunset together, we parted again to realize our own visions of the area.

 

I headed back to this valley view, where the Milky Way aligned perfectly right after nightfall. The spot was between mine and Henry's campsite and you can actually see part of Henry's truck hiding behind the oak tree on the right side.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS Ra

Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

Sky:

Stack of 6 x 90s @ ISO1600, tracked

Foreground:

Stack of 5 x 90s @ ISO3200

Done