The Milky Way and a Photo Workshop - Acadia NP
On a whim last weekend, we drove up to Acadia for a night. The weather report looked decent so we took a chance. The weather was just perfect. The sunset was nice though a cloudless sky does not make for great images. We waited for darkness as the moon went lower on the horizon and the stars appeared. Not much waiting and we started photographing the Milky Way. It is amazing how many cars just hang around with their headlights on (just perfect for astrophotography). Folks running around without a care - so what if I hit your tripod - I did not mean to - it just happened. We managed to get a few shots and a panorama that I will post later.We decided to come down Cadillac Mountain and head for Boulder Beach to photograph the Milky Way with the boulders in the foreground and Otter Cliffs as an anchor on the right. As we approached the walkway to the spot where you climb down, we met two photographers. Strangely there was a lot of shouting from some people down at Boulder Beach. They were yelling about lights and how they were doing a workshop etc. - extremely rude. The two photographers who were up on the walkway indicated that the workshop leader asked them to leave Boulder Beach as he was conducting a workshop. Excuse me - this is all a National Park and we all have a right to be there. As a workshop leader, these people need to be considerate and courteous to fellow photographers - not be nasty and rude. Based on this feedback Monica and I decided not to go down but shoot from the overlook above. You need a light to get to the overlook so as Monica started toward the overlook the shouting started all over again. She was rudely told to switch off her headlight - now must one walk in the dark and risk a fall? There is a way to accommodate other photographers in situations like this. Give them space and the time to set up, it is a public place after all. There is enough room and the stars are not running away. I did look up to see who it was that was conducting this workshop, I don't know him, but I hope he learns a little photographer's etiquette.Here is an image captured from Park Loop Road:
No Aurora but the Milky Way
March 28, 2015 - Alaska Geo. Inst. forecasts a Kp index of 5 for the Aurora. Kp 5 means - if the Aurora occurs you should be able to see it low on the horizon in Massachusetts. Sounds awesome so we decide against going for the CamNats (Massachusetts Camera Naturalists) and head to Maine. Acadia is always a great spot so we head to the loop road. WRONG most of the roads are closed. A nice cop gives us direction on how to get to Sand Beach - so it is about midnight and we find our way to the parking lot. Poor visibility forces us out of there and heading further towards Otter Cliffs. The road is closed at the turnoff to Otter Cliff road. We pull over into a small clearing at one of the entrances to a parking lot and wait for the Aurora - nothing. Well the Milky Way rises over the cliffs so we wait. 3:15 and the Milky Way shows its full arc. It is cold, the wind does not help. I mounted the Rokinon 14mm on the Sony A7R to get this image. The foreground trees were light painted during the exposure.Please click on the image for a larger presentation.
A subsequent 7 image pano yielded the arc but the 14mm lend distortion is apparent.
Another great "Glorious Acadia" fall workshop
Got back late Monday Night after a wonderful 4 day "Glorious Acadia" workshop. Had a great group of photographers and met some wonderful friends and made a few new ones too. All-in-all this was a 5 star workshop. One last one left this year in December - The Bosque del Apache and White Sands - a few spaces are still available.Here are few images form various locations:
I was looking to do something a little different during tho workshop. There are way too many images of the same subjects and the same tripod holes. Here isa lone dead tree lit up by the setting sun. I knew it was going to be a full moon so we stayed at the same location and turned around about 130 degrees. The next images is the moon rising.
The next image is a customary sunrise looking out toward Otter Clifs. A few more clouds would definitely have added to the image.
At otter cove I did an IR time lapse using the 16 to 35 mm series two Canon lens. This was a disaster as this lens just like to older version creates a massive hotspot in the center of the frame of each image. Trash canned the lot bout a deep crop on one image was useable.
I will be posting a few more images captured by the wonderful participants. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them for coming and being so supportive.
One final slow shutter speed image from the trip:
