On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youāre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Six years ago, on June 24, 2017, I headed to Joshua Tree for a group Milky Way shoot, while I had attempted to shoot the Milky Way here in Glendale(too much light pollution) and at the coast(who knew the Moon would be a problem), this was the first time I actually captured the Milky Way on my camera.Ā We shot a large rock as the near foreground with Ryan Mountain behind it.Ā After shooting at that location several of us ventured out and did some light painting of Joshua Trees as a foreground.
A month later, the group returned to Joshua Tree, this time along the road to Barker Dam.Ā It has some nice Joshua Trees in the foreground and an Interesting rock I call the FU rock(it has a small rock on the top looking like it is giving you the finger).Ā I had learned ane important thing from my first group shoot, get a foreground shot during blue hour and then don’t move the tripod.Ā The one thing I hadn’t really learned was when astronomical twilight ends and most of my shots were shot before then.Ā I didn’t get many shots that night since some of the group decided to do light painting and had their kids doing it.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Joshua Tree: while it is relatively close(about 160 miles), drive to the park can take between 2 1/2 to 5 hours.; it can get very crowded with folk wanting to do their own thing; and it is not all that dark with light pollution from Palm Springs making late season Milky Way shots almost impossible; that said, it does have some great foregrounds(both natural and man made).
The first shot was shot with a Samsung NX500 and a Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens, the rest were shot with a Sony A7iv and a Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 lens at 17mm.
This was one of my first Milky Way shots.Ā The original shot was just the sky and a dark(black) foreground.Ā A few years after I took this shot, I noticed that I’d taken a shot of the foreground during blue hour that I ended up using as the foreground.
This shot was taken mid June of this year.Ā The Milky Way core is just cresting Ryan Mountain.Ā I used a 4 minute shot of the background taken right after taking the shot of the sky.
A month after my first shoot with the group, I joined them again in Joshua Tree for some more Milky Way shots.Ā I had learned a few things since my first shoot a month earlier, but I still took most of my shots before astronomical twilight ended.Ā This is a shot taken this year at the same location with what I call the FU Rock(due to the small rock on top of the larger rock).Ā I’ve shot this location a few times with the NX-1, but wanted to give it a try with the Sony.
I continued down the road to Barker Dam and parked in the parking lot, then hiked the Wall Street Mill trail about a mile to a windmill I shot last year.
After shooting the windmill, I’d planned on using an old rusted truck as another foreground, but I’d not been there during daylight and was unsure of the exact location, so I hike back to the car and drove the 60 miles to Amboy to revisit the Lions.Ā I couldn’t get the straight on face shot of the lion due to the angle of the Milky Way core and vowed to return.
I returned to Amboy to shoot the conjunction of the Moon, Mars, and Venus; but also to reshoot the Lions.Ā This time, once the Moon had set the Milky Way core was in a good position to capture the Lion face on.Ā I added additional light painting after taking the base exposure.Ā This is the eastern lion, the female(you can tell by the cub under her paw).
I drove west down Route 66 to the western ion, this is the male lion with a globe under his paw.Ā I took the same set of shots I’d take with the eastern lion.
War for Ukraine Day 544: A Brief Monday Night Post
Baud
Thank you for six years of gorgeous photos.Ā There’s something about space photos in particular that instills a sense of awe and perspective.
Dangerman
For some reason, this reminds me of a Dude that lived in my neighborhood (at the time). Los Osos (a lovely little community). Anyway, Dude was named George Lepp and he did courses in panorama photography. Wrote books, kinda famous. For some random reason, JT and all feels like panorama would work well. I didnāt visit his place (not sure if heās still with us). Opportunity missed.
Kinda like my choice not to play cello way back when. Grandfather was a concert cellist. Didnāt take advantage. Granfarher also a sports junkie. THAT got passed down bigtime.
Great shots. Love Joshua Tree.
JPL
Spectacular!
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Wait until you see what I’ve shot with the new Astromod camera.
@Dangerman: I’ve shot several panos at Joshua Tree, including one at Live Oak Tank this past May.Ā I’ll probably return to JT next year, there are still a few things I’d like to shoot there(or re-shoot), but I’ll probably only go again once or twice.
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Thanks.
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
I mentioned the astromod camera(it is a Sony A7r) in my reply to Baud.Ā Here’s a shot of the Summer Triangle and the Cygnus region of the Milky Way that I shot last Friday morning at Red Rock.
Baud
@š¾BillinGlendaleCA:
We’re going to change your nym to James Webb.
eclare
Six years of great photos, wow!Ā Love the lions, what are they remnants of?
M31
awesome!
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Webb shoots in IR, I’m shooting visual with H-alpha.
@eclare: They were just placed there by the artist who created them.
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@M31: Got a shot of you with the new camera too.
BretH
I love your astrophotography. Hoping to get out this fall & winter to try myself. Thereās a heap of light pollution around me but if I head west into the blue ridge I should be able to give it a fair shot. Ā I can see the value in having been to many places during the day and knowing what they will look like at night at different times of the year.
Steve in the ATL
Impressive as always, Bill!
Kristine
Stunning shotsāthank you.
Not sure when I will next get to visit Door County. Friends have a place on the Tip o’ the Thumb and the night sky is jaw-dropping. I try to use my stargazing app, but there are so many stars that I can’t pick out the well-known stars I’m looking for. I can even see satellites. Faint, faint movement.
Wag
@š¾BillinGlendaleCA: Ā Spectacular. Ā What incredible depth!
M31
@š¾BillinGlendaleCA:
aww yis
pieceofpeace
Have enjoyed your photos over the years and this collection is stellar. Ā Thank you.
Torrey
Piling on to express appreciation of your photos, both now and through the years.
Warning: while Bill’s photos always instill, as Baud says, a sense of awe and perspective, and, for me, calm. the following will yank you right back into the ugly world we actually inhabit. Read at own risk.
I wanted more backstory on the lions. Atlas Obscura has an entry (“Amboy Lions”). I also found this entry in Wayward Navigation. Seems people have left all kinds of offerings on the lions’ pedestals. There seems to to be a couple cases of people painting parts of the pedestal, as in Bill’s 5th and 6th pictures, above. And the female lion was damaged by some damn fool with a high-powered rifle who was out in the desert shooting at things and thought the lion was cement (and thus presumably a fair target?). OK, leaving aside intentional damage to piece of art, idiot has high-powered(!) rifle. and wanders around shooting at things they can’t clearly see, ignoring the fact that bullets from those things travel a distance and might hit something they’re not aiming at and haven’t even noticed, like a person. At least they left an apology note.
munira
@š¾BillinGlendaleCA: That’s amazing.
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@BretH: Thanks, it is really nice to drive a bit and get to a darker place(a good resource is http://www.lightpollutionmap.info).Ā It is a really good idea to get a lay of the land in the daytime to avoid problem(I almost got stuck for the night last month).Ā The sky does change quite a lot over the year, right now Orion is rising in the early morning hours.
@Steve in the ATL: Glad you like them.
@Kristine: Thanks, there are some star map apps that can use the camera on the cellphone to help orient you.Ā They can help alot.
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@Wag: Thank you!
@M31: My next submission to OTR will be shots with the new camera including M31 at 300mm.
@pieceofpeace: These are all shots I’ve taken before, but I wanted to get them with the full frame camera since it has better light gathering capabilities.Ā Glad you like them.
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@Torrey: Thanks, you can see the damage to the lion’s face.Ā Some folk are just jerks.Ā I’m pretty sure than whoever placed the lions there does some maintenance on the, they seems to have been cleaned since my last visit.
@munira: Thanks much.