It was 2:15 when I crawled out of my hammock and woke my Dad up to see the stars. We started a fire and warmed up as much as we could before we left. It was our second night and I woke up rufus to come along like always, but there was no way I was getting that dog up. We were all pushed past our limits the day before and barely made it over the ridge to this lake. We had to carry our packs through a freezing river and then pull ourselves through the last mile of intense snow covered uphill.
I knew the milky way would be just where I wanted it latest in the night; but If I shot the picture to late in the morning the sunrise light will ruin it. We left camp and hiked to this vantage point and turned off our lights. 3:42am is when I took this 30 second photograph, along with 6 others just in case. One of which was an 8 minute exposure. I actually tried some exposure masking but im not very good at it. I decided against it. This is one photograph, one exposure, not a composite, and all natural light.
Im blessed to sit with my father at 10,000ft elevation and share this incredible moment with him. “In the end, its not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away” – Shing Xiong
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