Desert Celestial

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done any astrophotography. To be honest, it’s been a minute since I’ve done any serious photography. When I say photography, I don’t mean going out snapping a few photos of various city scenes, but rather a purposeful shoot, with a solid directive, and pulling on the skills I’ve learned over the years. I love photography; it’s such a part of who I am that I can’t imagine not wanting to get out there and shoot when I have the time and opportunity. Recently, I’ve had the time, but I haven’t made the effort to seek out the locations and set-ups that make for an interesting and provocative image. I do, however, think that a person’s photography evolves. I’ve taken so many photos over the years that certain situations don’t move the needle enough for me to go out of my way to make an image. So when I was in Joshua Tree last week, I wanted to not only do some stargazing, but I also wanted to get some photos. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a 15-35/f2.8, but was using my 24-105/f4. But standing out there waiting for the shutter to close, wondering if any rattlesnakes were slithering around, was fun. It brought back the excitement I had many years ago when I first started shooting a lot of night photos. As with anything else, you need to get into a good rhythm. And I was definitely a little rusty. In hindsight, I would have done a few things differently, used a different lens, and spent a little bit more time trying to make the best shot possible. But I had a lot of fun getting back out there.