Astro Photography

Last week I decided it was time to try my hand at astrophotography.  I've been feeling "restless" lately, like I'm getting into a rut, feeling the need to try something new.  I checked the weather report and saw that - after a period of cloudy skies and wet weather- last Sunday night was supposed to be clear, cloudless night, coinciding with a new moon.  The decision was made.

After sunset I headed south, turning down County Road 51, following the winding two lane road past where the pavement ends and the road becomes a narrower dirt thoroughfare, down through the canyon and up, winding and climbing until I reached an open plateau, drove through the dark until the last house faded in the distance, drove until the trees thinned and the land was open, drove until all I could make out in the fading twilight was an old windmill, finally pulling the car over roughly 25 miles southeast of Santa Fe as the crow flies.  I got out, stared into the pitch black, stood there until my eyes adjusted to the dark, then grabbed my camera and tripod and setup on the side of the road.  I double checked the settings I had dialed in before leaving the house - focus set to infinity, lens at its widest angle (10mm), camera set to Manual mode, aperture at f3.5, shutter speed at 20 sec, ISO 3200 - and started taking a few shoots, trying to get a composition that I was happy with.


After taking a few shots I decided to experiment with a little light painting.  I found a composition that I liked, with the glow of fading sun still on the horizon and the windmill on the left hand side of the frame.  During the twenty second exposure I hit the "lock" button on my car's key chain, and the quick flashes of the car's light lent a warm glow to the windmill and the foreground...  Taken at 10:28 PM.

I had brought with me a small pen light which projected a cool blue light.  During this exposure I used the pen light to paint the road with a small patch of light.  Taken at   10:38 PM.

In this shot I used the pen light to illuminate the windmill, while capturing the Milky Way rising over the horizon to the left.  Taken at 11:11 PM.

That night I listened to the coyotes howling in the distance, the occasional bird call out into the night before bedding down, not another car, not another soul, encountered on the road...  That night I got caught up in the moment, listening to the sounds that come with the still night, playing around with light painting and compositions.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized I hadn't taken the time to vary shutter speed, to experiment with different ISO settings, to wait and bide my time until the Milky Way has ascended higher in the night sky. 
  
Which only serves as an excuse to go out into the night again...

While I have your ear, I'd like to mention that I am showing my work at the Santa Fe Artists Market on select Saturdays this summer, with June 13 and 20 tentatively scheduled as the next days I'll be there, and I will be appearing at the 54th Annual New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair June 26-28 at the EXPO NM Fairgrounds (Manuel Lujan Building) in Albuquerque.

All photos taken with a Nikon D7000 camera body, and a Nikkor 10-24 DX lens

You can view my online portfolio and purchase prints here.

Want to keep up to date with where I'll be and what my latest creations are?
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I'm also on Twitter @KSchafferPhoto
And am now sharing iPhone photos on Instagram: @kschafferphoto

#250 - Why do I blog?

"Your voice is as important as anyone else’s." ~ J.J. Abrams

Why do I blog? I started this blog in September 2010, without any idea of what I was doing or where I thought it would go, other than I wanted to start writing about my new hobby, photography.  I wrote a few things over the next couple of years (most of which has since been deleted, they were so poorly written and unfocused), then I started to blog consistently in August 2012, mostly posting a single photo with a short description. Eventually it evolved again into what it is today - longer posts with multiple photos and the "story" behind them.

Why do I blog?  It's a creative outlet.  There was a time when I wanted to be writer.  I studied writing, read constantly, filled journal after journal, wrote short stories and sent them off to publishers, and filed away the rejection letters as they came in - if they came at all.  I plugged away, then "life" happened.  I still wrote, off and on, then, in my early thirties, I finally went back to college and took it seriously.  Writing became a necessity, essays and term papers.  Shortly after college I switched careers and dove into the world of grant writing for a nonprofit, the stakes got higher, and the joy of writing subsided - it was now a j-o-b.  I stopped writing for pleasure.  Now, a couple of years removed from the grant writing world, I've slowly started to enjoy writing again. 

Why do I blog?  It's a means to document my journey.  The small steps and big leaps.  I look back at photos I took a couple of years ago, a year ago, a month ago, and I see improvement.  And I see room for improvement.  The better I get, the further I feel I need to go.     

Why do I blog?  To share a new technique I've learned.  This is one of the first photos I developed in the "digital darkroom" using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique.

 
Why do I blog?  To show off what I can do with a new toy.  This photo was taken with my fisheye lens, which enabled me to get the sunburst with the well defined rays.

Why do I blog?  To share a new direction my photography has taken, in this case urban exploration (Urbex) photography.

Why do I blog?  To share those moments rooted in serendipity.

Why do I blog?  To share the little things that catch my eye.

Why do I blog?  To share kitschy, quirky, pieces of roadside Americana I ran across.

Why do I blog?  To share a sunrise.

 
Why do I blog?  I’m a quiet person by nature.  Sharing my photography has given me a way to express myself and share things that catch my eye and pique my imagination.  I look forward to continuing to search, explore, and discover the wonders of the Southwest and wherever else my muse may take me, and continuing to share those experiences.

That's why I blog.

All photos taken with a Nikon D7000 camera body, and Nikkor lens

You can view my online portfolio and purchase prints here.

Want to keep up to date with where I'll be and what my latest creations are?
Follow me on FaceBook and Google+
I'm also on Twitter @KSchafferPhoto
And now on Instagram: @kschafferphoto
 

The Real and the Imagined

Last weekend we drove down to Socorro, New Mexico, a short overnight trip to explore the area.  The idea was to catch sunset at the Very Large Array, sunrise at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, and to track down a few green chile cheeseburgers.  We managed to do all this, but it was an unexpected stop that - as often happens on a venture like this - was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Saturday morning, after leaving Bosque del Apache, we decided to follow the signs to the El Camino Real International Heritage Center (which is now called the El Camino Real Historic Trail Site). After a short drive we arrived, walked in, glanced around, and decided to stay and check out the Visitor's Center and Museum.  In short, I can say that this is definitely worth a stop, as you can learn a lot about the El Camino Real and the settling of New Mexico by the Spanish and other emigrants during the 1600-1800s (you can find details about the Center here).
 
After going through the museum we went out on the observation deck, and almost immediately I decided to go back to the truck and grab my camera. 

What first caught my eye was the reflection of the clouds in the building's windows and how the blue tinted glass almost mirrored the feel of the blue sky...

 

There were cold blue steel girders and the patterns of those beams and wires against the backdrop of the cool blue sky and wispy clouds...

I looked up and saw a steel beam bisecting the sky...

 
Then there was this structure, jutting out from the ground like a concrete slab of progress fighting to gain a foothold in the barren desert landscape...

Walking back out to the parking lot, out the front walkway, I looked up and saw these converging lines, leading the eye out to the wide open, vast nothingness of the desert plain...

And looking back down the walkway I was taken in by the repetition of pattern, both in the construction of the building and the shadows that cut across the wall and the walk, the texture of the concrete blocks, and how this man-made structure served as a window to the still open, mostly undeveloped country...

Once I started thinking about it, everywhere I looked all I could see was the juxtaposition of this modern concrete and cold blue steel building against a land that, in any given direction, looked much the same as when the first Conquistadors crossed the rolling hills and open plains dotted with juniper and cactus, scrub brush and sage...

Footnote:  As I started to write this I jotted down an outline of thoughts that I had bouncing around in my head, then I hit the Internet to do a little background research.  I soon found the "Friends Of El Camino Real" website, and learned the following: "The wagon caravans, traveling the trail over the flat desert expanse of the Jornada del Muerto, were often described as looking like ships on the ocean. The Visitor's Center building was designed to be that ship that takes the visitor along El Camino Real. The entrance is the gangway to the ship; the building interior to appear somewhat like a cruise ship, entering along the promenade deck to a stairway to the main deck. Outside the building, to the east, is the ampitheater, overlooking the vast Jornada del Muerto, as if standing on the bow of a ship, complete with a bow mast and observation deck."  After learning this I thought about revising what I had written to that point, but decided to go with what my initial impressions were, knowing that I now had two frames of reference for the experience - the real and the imagined.

All photos taken with a Nikon D7000 camera body, and Nikkor 16-85 DX VR lens

You can view my online portfolio and purchase prints here.

Want to keep up to date with where I'll be and what my latest creations are?
Follow me on FaceBook and Google+
I'm also on Twitter @KSchafferPhoto
And now on Instagram: @kschafferphoto