Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Visit

 

One of my favorite places in the New Mexico badlands is the area called Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah.  It's filed with hoodoos and strange features, and always repays repeat visits for photography.  Here are posts about previous trips:  April 2021, March 2021, October 2020, and July 2019.

This trip took place in late October, 2021, with my friend Alan Postelnek and another photographer, Igal Brener.  Our ultimate goal was to photograph the Milky Way on one of the last times of the year when the Galactic Center was visible.  But we had most of an afternoon to wander around and enjoy the interesting features of the place, like these:

Not sure what animal made this track:

Then it was time for Golden Hour . . .

. . . followed by Blue Hour:

and then deep Blue Hour:

As it got darker, I experimented with light painting on the hoodoo in the image above with a long exposure in the dark.  Here's my best attempt:

(By the way, that bright star in the image is Venus.)

Meanwhile, Alan and Igal set up their cameras and off-camera supplemental lights to illuminate some foreground features for the Milky Way shot:

Finally, I used my camera with the lighting set-up that they had arranged to get my own Milky Way image:

If you would like to see these images in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!