Mobius Arch with Star Trails

One of the more pleasant experiences I’ve had in the field recently was having the luxury of sitting out under the stars at Mobius Arch for 9 hours. Over 7 hours of that time was letting the following long exposure run, while the other two were spent capturing alternate perspectives as seen in Mobius Arch & Stars I and Mobius Arch & Stars V. So what does one do to keep busy during a 7 hour exposure*?  (Check all that apply)

1. Listen and look for swooping owls and scurrying lizards
2. Watch an average of 4 shooting stars an hour
3. Listen to the sound of silence
4. Check email on my iPhone & post to Twitter
5. All of the Above

See the answer below…

Mobius Arch with Star Trails

If you chose “All of the Above” you’re correct. It was invigorating to be in such a beautiful, dark and quiet environment. I stuck around to make sure that nothing went awry with my camera, but I also didn’t want to be my worst enemy moving my camera or in advertantly introducing light to the scene. So for 7 hours I ducked out behind a giant boulder. It was no surprise that nocturnal creatures were stirring about so between looking and listening for their presence I kept a watchful eye out for shooting stars. Seeing as it was a new moon and my headlamp was rather faint I used my iPhone as a flashlight and soon discovered I could get network coverage. While I enjoyed the serenity of the moment I couldn’t help out of boredom to check my email and update my Twitter account a couple of times. Not my proudest moment, but it happened. iPhone aside it was an incredible experience to be there in that moment to watch the Milky Way swirl above.

* Represents a combined exposure of 100’s of 30 second exposures. To me its an exposure but I realize some might appreciate the differentiation from 1 single exposure.

[tags]landscape, photography, Mobius Arch, Galen Arch, Galen’s Arch, star trail, Alabama Hills, California[/tags]