Aug 2024 (One Month - One Picture)
Explore Landscapes #57
My favorite image from August was one of 1,200 images that I shot to create a timelapse video in Sequoia National Park.
Milky Way over Wolverton Service Camp, Sequoia NP | © 2024 Jon Norris
August 2024 | Sequoia National Park
August was a ‘busy’ month as I squeezed in two trips to Joshua Tree National Park, one trip to Sequoia National Park, plus two weeks incapacitated at home with COVID.
The Sequoia trip combined scouting locations for an Astrophotography Workshop (I led on behalf of the Sequoia Parks Conservancy as part of their Dark Sky Festival) with 45 miles of hiking and backpacking and 10,200 feet of elevation gain. Note: I’ll write about the Dark Sky Festival in a future post.
I was fortunate to stay at the Wolverton Service Camp, which is in the middle of the park, amongst the firs and pine trees. Alas, there were no Sequoia Trees near the camp - they’re slightly lower down the hill in the Giant Forest.
The campsite was a great location to shoot the Milky Way, and we were blessed with a clear sky, warm weather, and almost no wind each night I was there.
Sunset and Crescent Moon through Arch Rock, Joshua Tree National Park | © 2024 Jon Norris
August 2019 | Joshua Tree National Park
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Joshua Tree National Park. We’re fortunate to have this fantastic national park just two hours away, and I head there as often as possible. This month, I squeezed in three camping trips. While the summer is sweltering in JT, it does keep the number of visitors down … but you have to be prepared for the weather.
I’d meant to revisit Arch Rock for the last few years but hadn’t gotten around to it. As there was going to be a new moon over the last weekend in August, I planned to try to get some crescent moon and astrological shots.
With the help of The Photographer’s Ephemeris, a powerful and handy app (but one that takes some practice to master), I identified that the crescent moon would be visible through the arch of Arch Rock on Saturday evening.
For once, I gave myself plenty of time to get set up in the right place before sunset and was ready when the time came. I spent a really enjoyable few hours taking photos and panos of Arch Rock and the surrounding boulders. I sat and waited for the light to change during the golden hour and sunset, and then, as the sky darkened, the crescent moon came into view… right where TPE had said it would.
