In Memoriam

During a San Francisco layover in July, I had time to spend two nights doing astrophotography. On the way to my planned location for the first night, I was the first driver to arrive at a terrible car accident that killed two people. I quickly realized there was nothing more I could do for the victims and called 911. When the highway patrol arrived, I gave my statement and was allowed to leave.

 

I continued my journey quite depressed and at a pretty lake in the Sierra Nevada, I took a much-needed break. I hiked down to the water where I found these immersed rocks with two pine trees clinging to them. The beautiful scene was balm for my soul, but the two trees also reminded me of the two casualties.

 

As a tribute to them, I wanted to capture the Milky Way at this place. A quick calculation showed that it was possible to photograph both my planned and this location in a single night, but the timing would be extremely tight.

 

After spending some time at the lake, I drove on. After a while, I saw another great looking scene that would work well as a nightscape. Now, I knew I had to abandon my plans for the second night to spend more time in this area. I can't say I was sad about driving less.

 

EXIF

Canon EOS-R, astro-modified

Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART @ f/2

IDAS NBZ filter

iOptron SkyTracker Pro

 

Sky:

Stack of 6x 45s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 3x 105s @ ISO6400, filtered

 

Foreground:

Stack of 5x 60s @ ISO3200

 

Reflection:

Single exposure from the foreground sequence

Done