Skyline Nightscape
Limited Edition of 50
It was a very dark June night on Skyline Drive when I pulled into the parking area. You never realize how dark it is until you turn off your headlights, and in that moment the whole world goes dark. I got out of the car and when my eyes adjusted to the darkness the most obvious thing about the scene was the bowl of stars seeming to rise up out of the valley below and the wispy, cloud like stream of the Milky Way overhead. I began to pull gear out of my car, the scene outside now lit by the stars. I put the faintest of lights on the large tree in the left of my intended frame, just enough to bring the tree out of pitch blackness and to light it up properly during the 10s exposure of the sky. I took my image, but something was still missing. The treeline on the right was still dark. I got out my trusty flashlight and in a second exposure I ran away from the camera and panned the flashlight back and forth on the trees, lighting them up for the camera. It took a few tries to get the balance correct but the result would be a lovely, balanced image with just the right amounts of light in the foreground.