So. I'm exhausted.
Back to work and (mostly) happy about it, but it's emotionally exhausting dealing with Ms. Terminator (tm: Jackie). But I signed up to go to Mono Lake with one of my Meet-up groups to shoot the Milky Way and I didn't allow myself to talk myself out of it!
So, without further ado, here are my offerings.
Oh, but first. There are these amazing looking abandoned cabins off of 395 that I always want to stop at but never have. And OH!
Did I mention that we had our first snowfall already?? In mid-September? And there was quite a bit still on the ground and in the trees as I went over Monitor Pass! So exciting! So then I HAD to stop at the cabins because the mountains in the background were covered with snow and it looked amazing!
I really hope this means we're going to have another wet winter!
So then I got to the parking lot at the South Tufa area of Mono Lake and met up with a new friend. We were both late and so it was totally meant to be! We ended up shooting together most of the night and having a blast.
It was about 6:30 when we arrived and 7:00ish by the time we got to the beach and set up. We met up with our group leader who gave us some basic info on what shutter/ISO/Aperture we needed and he helped me get my tripod into portrait mode, which I didn't even know it could do! Yay!
Then we tried to capture some of the tufa with the golden glow from the sunset on them. Mine were mostly blurry (damn my old, bad eyes!) but I still like this photo. Just don't look at it too close.
It's called the Shipwreck (or so I was told) and it was really windy (and freezing), so I like the motion on the water.
And then, as the sky darkened into a deep purple and the new moon came out, I tried to capture those.
Just in case ya didn't know, these pillars are called Tufa and they were formed many, many moons ago when all of this was under water. Mono Lake used to be a huge inland sea. And beneath the lake, underground springs would push calcium-laden water through the lake bed. When that water met the salty water of the lake, the calcium and carbonate salts formed the limestone towers.
The lake has been drained by drought and by man (mostly Southern California men I think) and now the Tufa Towers are visible around the lake. If you watch closely at the waters edge, you can see bubbles where new tufa are being formed even now. Baby tufa!
Anyway, another celestial sight to behold was the Big Dipper sprawled over the North Western horizon.
And then it was time to try to get the Milky Way. There were clouds out just above the mountains and blocking parts of the galaxy center (or so I was told) but there were so many stars it was simply amazing!
Oh, I should probably say that I have NO idea how to edit the Milky Way to get the fabulous colors and lights that most other photographers do. I know that most use Lightroom, which I don't have. I don't even have "real" Photoshop! So these efforts in my ancient Photoshop Elements 11 is the best I can do. :-)
This first one was actually a happy accident when Candice turned on her flashlight just as I opened my shutter (I got yelled at for this same thing later. Some people are very rude.) It illuminated the tufa naturally and, I think, looks pretty cool!
I had brought some "props", most of which I ended up not using because there were too many people around and I was afraid of getting yelled at. Maybe next summer I can do some more of my whimsical ideas.
But I did break out a few glowsticks and place them on the back side of the tufa. Cool Cool Cool!
These first photos I edited pretty dark and I think I actually took out some of the Milky Way because it was more visible to the naked eye. But I hate my photos to look grainy!
This one I adjusted the midtones lighter and you can definitely see more of the Milky Way. And a plane! Or shooting star! I don't know which and don't really care because it looks cool. lol
And another one! On this one the top and a little of the bottom of the tufa are red and that's not from a glowstick. I think someone turned on a red flashlight. You're supposed to use a red flashlight so it doesn't show up in people's photos (or so I was told) but obviously it does. But again, cool! It looked like a Superman tufa.
This is the same photo but with my original, darker edit. There were pink and blue glowsticks (and the red flashlight).
Now with this next one I went balls to the walls and lightened the hell out of the midtones! You can see all the freaking stars in the damn universe! Sorry. I'm really, really tired.
This is the opposite end of the galaxy with a silhouette of the Shipwreck. So many stars!
And for my last photo of the night (pun intended! Ha!), we have a black and white (mostly) of the Northern shore of Mono with tufa in silhouette. The streaks of light on the left are cars driving down 395 where it's just above the shore). And two planes. Because it can't be said enough...Cool!
I heard the trailing garments of the Night
sweep through her marble halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
from the celestial walls!
I felt her presence by its spell of might
stoop o'er me from above;
the calm, majestic presence of the Night,
as of the one I love.
Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
the welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,
the best beloved Night!
~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
xoxo
