Quiet Darkness

A few weeks ago I journeyed out to the edge of the Utah Test And Training Range to photograph the Perseid meteor showers, get up the next morning to shoot Bonneville Speed Week (post coming) and then another assignment on the way home.

The morning was beautiful (large panorama shot here), with the Moon and Venus rising through the sky together, but as seen in the image below, spotting any of the Perseid Meteor Shower was a bust as clouds moved in after sundown and stayed over most of the night.

 

After the sun went down, it was crazy dark out there.  This is a *30* second exposure at f/4 on a wide angle lens, ISO 3200.  The light in my tent was an iPod Nano.  The light from the clouds was lightning being reflected.  In this 30 second exposure, it seems like quite a bit of light, but it was far away and there was barely enough light for your eyes to see very far.

Also, after the F-15s finished dropping bombs off in the distance (WHUMP! WHUMP!), it got very… very… quiet.  I imagine this is what some distant uninhabited planets are like… No sounds of freeways, airplanes, creatures, almost no wind and far off lightning making the only real sound available as a distant yet faint roll.

These are moments that I value on occasion.  They are moments for contemplation, introspection and meditation.  Moments that are restorative.  Moments to get in touch with your inner self and your spirituality. Moments to establish perspective as life gets ever faster and more connected.

7 Replies to “Quiet Darkness”

  1. Gorgeous!! Love the pictures! Sounds like an exceptional experience!! Very much looking forward to Speed Week pictures! Been there 2 years ago and so much want to go there again!
    Thanks for posting!

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