Do you like to smile? Have you ever felt that you need a little inspiration? 
…Or perhaps a little “pick me up” in the middle of a hectic day?
I find that looking into the night sky and capturing the enormity of it all with my camera inspires me and puts a smile on my face.
My hope is that these images will put a smile on your face...and perhaps give you a little inspiration, too!
This first photograph, to the right, was taken at about 3 AM on a cold and windy night.
Turret Arch, in Arches National Park, is one of my favorite Milky Way subjects.
In order to illuminate the arch, two small, very low powered LED lights were used. Without the lights, the arch would just appear as a dark silhouette against the stars.
To get the Milky Way as bright as it appears here, a time exposure of 25 seconds at a high ISO (the cameras sensor light sensitivity) was used. Contrast between the stars and the dark sky was brought up in small steps in Photoshop.
If you're planning on going out to do this kind of photography, you need to be patient...
Weather is always an issue. Some nights are cold and windy, and other times cloud cover is an issue. When shooting wide panoramas (the photograph across the top of this page is a good example), you have to have a clear horizon to horizon view.
Besides the weather, wildlife can be a factor. While shooting in the Canadian Rockies, I encountered a large Grizzly Bear at about 2 in the morning (more about this, below). The point is that if you're planning to go out to shoot Milky Way pictures, be prepared for just about anything!
If you'd rather not deal with the weather on dark, cold nights at 3 in the morning in very remote locations...or get eaten by a bear...You may still have some really nice Milky Way pictures. You can buy them from me...I'll risk it all for you 🙂
I do have a variety of sizes and prices, with the desktop size starting at only $19.95 (see video to the left). The larger prints (13X19, and larger) are printed on a metallic coated heavy paper, which makes the stars appear to shimmer - these prints are very nice. Please visit my gallery for more details.
I understand that it is difficult to know what these prints will really look like, just from seeing them on a computer, tablet, or phone screen.
I truly want to put a smile on your face, and for you to be very pleased with your picture(s). With this in mind, I offer you a money back guarantee. Once you get your print, if you’re not happy, just send it back to me - no questions asked. I stand behind my work.
The photograph below is one of the Vermillion Lakes in The Canadian Rockies.
I packed up my photo gear around midnight and headed out with my warm coat. I was all ready for a night of Milky Way photography.
Earlier that day I had been out with my compass and note book to scout the area. The Vermillion Lakes turned out to be perfect for what I was wanting to do: a series of Milky Way shots with mountains in the background and the still waters of the lake, to reflect the star light, in the foreground.
I setup and did some initial calibration shots.
Everything was going very well and I was getting some great shots. As I had expected, the lighting was a bit challenging – the lake and mountains were very much darker than the sky. I decided that the best way to shoot this was to do a panorama of the sky, and then do the same for the lake, but at much longer exposures.
Normally if I want to have the stars as single points of light, I would do an exposure no longer than 25 seconds. Anything longer than that will cause the light of the stars to streak, due to the Earth’s rotation. With the lake, however, I decided that having bright reflections would take precedence over pin points of reflected light.
If you take a close look at the picture to the right, you will see what I mean. Notice the streaks of light in the water? That is a direct result of the longer exposure.
My night out was going well. I felt that I was getting some good exposures (you never know for sure, until you have the time to go through them).
I was looking forward to moving down to the next lake, but my plans were abruptly changed by a very large Grizzly Bear (upper case "G" and "B", for respect!). It was amazing how quiet he was as he peacefully walked on by. It was as if he was simply out for an enjoyable after dinner evening stroll under the summer stars.
It wasn’t as peaceful for me! The encounter was more startling than anything else; it was very dark, and he was very big! I did have my bear spray on my belt and was ready to use it, but it never came to that – the bear just kept walking, and I managed to get to the safety of my car.
As much as I wanted to spend more time out, I decided to call it quits for that night.
The following day I ran into another bear while out hiking, he’s the one who is pictured here. Running across this one in the daylight, rather than being surprised in the dark was much less startling!
If you have a minute, stop by my gallery, where you can browse these, and some of my other photographs.