Illuminated by Moonlight #1

by Jayson Tuntland

Title

Illuminated by Moonlight #1

Artist

Jayson Tuntland

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

"I was sure this shot was ruined, as I packed my bag and headed back to camp."

I had just come back from a war. With a different perspective on life, I had 30 days away from the complete control of Uncle Sam before heading back to garrison duty. I had decided while I was in Iraq, that when my tour was over, I was going to spend some bonding time with my dad. The time had arrived, so, on a pair of old motorcycles, we headed west.

We made more memories on that trip than any other trip we had taken together before. I could write a small book of the stories that unfolded on that trip, but I will spare you, with the exception of this short excerpt.

After crossing the Great Plains, and winding around the beautiful mountains of Colorado, we found our way to the stunning mountain range of the Grand Tetons. After some exploration that day, we set up our modest tent camp along the river. As the sun was setting, I tied my camera gear and sleeping bag onto the bike, told my father I would be back in a bit, and headed out to a location I had scouted earlier in the day.

It was nearly dark by the time I found my spot. The last couple nights had been dark, clear, moonless, and starry, and I was praying for the same tonight. I set my equipment and sleeping bag up, and hunkered in for the night. I was hoping to capture long exposure star trails over the mountain range, and catch the reflection of their light in the creek leading toward the old Moulton homestead.

My plan was to open the shutter, set my timer, sleep until my timer went off, check my results, adjust if necessary, and repeat. The first time I woke up, the dew had frozen solid to the outside of my sleeping bag, forming a hard crunchy shell. The first capture was disappointing to say the least. Undaunted, I readjusted, and started the process over again. The second time, I woke up surrounded by bison. It was slightly unnerving, as they are huge and I am sleeping in a black sleeping bag on the ground, under the wide open sky. The 2nd capture however was much better than the first, and I was fairly confident that with a few more minor adjustments, I would capture exactly what I was looking for. By the time I had reset the camera, the bison had moved on, and I went back to sleep. The 3rd time I awoke, my heart completely sunk.

The big ol’ moon had risen directly behind the scene I was trying to capture, brightly illuminating everything in sight. For a star trail photographer, any other unintended polluting light source is a kiss of death. My dad and I were pushing hard to see a lot of the west together, and I knew this was the only night I had to make this shot happen. As I closed the shutter for the last time, I silently accepted defeat for the time being. The small thumbnail that appeared pretty much confirmed my suspicion about the photo being blown out with light. I was sure this shot was ruined, as I packed my bag and headed back to camp.

After returning from the trip, I discovered that I had been very wrong. The resulting image I had captured was unlike any other landscape star trail capture I had ever seen. The whole landscape was lit up, the star trails were still there, the backlight was expansive beyond what any man-made beam could have produced, and the colors of the bright prairie were even and balanced. The photograph you now see is that third capture, “Illuminated by Moonlight”.

And as Paul Harvey would say. “Now you know… the rest of the story.”

Uploaded

October 5th, 2018

Statistics

Viewed 797 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 6:57 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags