When we got to our campsite in Grand Canyon North Rim I was a bit confused about the time zone. We came from Southern California (Pacific Time) and Arizona is in Mountain Time. The thing is California is in Pacific Daylight Time and Arizona doesn’t mess with that daylight stuff – it was in Mountain Standard Time. So the times are the same. But I set my cell phone clock ahead one hour anyway. Oops. Then I set the alarm for 04:30 to make a 05:00 appearance at Bright Angel Point exactly 45 minutes before sunrise.
Well, the alarm went off at 03:30 and not knowing better I got up, got dressed and slipped out of the tent. i thought I arrived at Bright Angel Point at 5:00 but it was really 4:00. As I drove to the lodge parking lot I noticed all these bright orange lights, really bright and really orange. My first thought was that the lodge area was really lit brightly for night. But then I realized it was the wild fire burning across the way.
OK, I got to the lodge parking lot, found a good parking spot, donned my camera bag and used my headlamp to guide me out to the point. It was really dark. I really didn’t notice any light in the eastern sky yet.
There was a great composition with the fire near the bottom. Above that was the moon in conjunction with Venus and above them was Orion. “This is really cool!” I thought.
There are two ways to photograph the night sky – with star trails and without. I’m into doing it without. So I punched the ISO up to 1600, turned on high ISO noise reduction, opened the lens up to f/2.8 and set the exposure for 30 sec. The focal length was 24mm.
The first shot was right on, really exciting. And although I couldn’t see it, there was a little light in the eastern sky. The next series of shots, taken at several minute intervals, showed the sky getting progressively brighter and the stars winking out.
But the thing that was really cool was being there in the dark with this whole marvelous experience all to myself. The mistaken time zone became the standard for the two mornings to come.
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