Hello all,
Boy do I have a story of photography induced stupidity for you! Complete with some lovely pictures (none of which actually depict the stupidness with which I will regale you presently).
So it was a moonless night on Monday evening (or at least nearly moonless as I saw no moon). I had the date down on my calendar because I wanted to see just how many stars I could capture with a 30 second exposure, sensor sensitivity (ISO) jacked up and the fstop as low as possible. It was about -4 outside (really not that cold in northern terms), and a beautiful, cloudless night. It seemed I was longing for something white and fluffy anyways. I drove out to a spot I had taken night photos before, sufficiently far away from the lights of the town, and promptly found myself stuck in a snow drift/ditch. No matter what I did, even in the lowest gear on my four wheel drive vehicle, I could not get out. *HurrahHurrah* for the stupid photographer! is what I thought.
Thankfully I had cell service, saving me from having to walk home at midnight in the pitch black. I called CAA. I would be saved by a tow truck about an hour later. But what to do in that hour? Why, take photos of course! I am fairly pleased with the night, photographically speaking, and I hope it was worth all the trouble! You can be the judge.
No matter how I try, I doubt I can capture the actual majesty of a moonless, artificial-lightness night with just the stars about. Though I expected this photo adventure to be a little scary as my usual photo-buddy was at work for the night, it was actually really relaxing. Surrounded by fields of snow, the night was nearly silent. If a predator were to approach, I like to think I could have heard him coming or spotted his silhouette with enough time to hide in my trapped vehicle. Believing that helped a lot.
I hope you liked the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them! Keep your stick on the ice and your car out of the snow banks 🙂