I think it has become a bit of a tradition on POTW, around this time of year, for me to bemoan the end of summer. I think this is also a signal that I’m getting old and crotchety. 🙂 It’s not that I don’t LOVE the fall here in East Tennessee, it’s so beautiful… but for me, it means that winter is coming… and I’m just not a fan of winter. BUT, we do have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks (here’s hoping the leaves put on a good show for us), and it’s been a wonderful summer.
One of the things I’ve been working on this summer are Milky Way images. I have been convinced for the longest time that I couldn’t capture the Milky Way because I didn’t have the right camera. I’ve shared some images over the years, but they’ve never been exactly what I’ve hoped for (or were from cameras I’d rented). I’ll get into the technical aspects of it in a future post, however suffice it to say for now… I was wrong. I still want a newer camera (hint, hint Holly… not that you needed one LOL), but capturing the Milky Way with a middle of the road DSLR camera, with acceptable amounts of noise, is possible. I’ll be sharing how later on (I’m frankly still working out the process), but before I change gears here and talk about some of the travels I’ve gotten to do here in the US this summer, and before we get into the fall colors, I wanted to share this image from my beloved Cades Cove. I captured this earlier this summer with my 60D (which is a great camera, but at this point is 7 years old technology), and it sparked some major revelations with how I shoot the night sky and how I edit. SUPER exciting.
Cross your fingers with me that we get some clear skies between now and November, when the Milky Way disappears from our night sky until March. I was hoping to get out some this week, but it’s looking like the remnants of hurricane Nate will keep our skies cloudy for a bit. We’ve got some time though!
–Dan Thompson