something about the night
Jun 01, 2022
"This dark brightness that falls from the stars." - Pierre Corneille
Monday night, I picked my 14mm lens from the shelf where it's resided since I returned from Rome earlier this year. The last time I'd used it was in St. Peter's Square, on my last night in Rome. On this night, I hoped to capture some of the Tau Herculid meteors... if the meteor shower wasn't a total bust.
Such ultra wide angle lenses serve a few distinct photographic purposes - principally among them, astrophotography. Several years ago, when I purchased the 14mm lens I swapped onto my camera on Monday night, I bought it for another purpose entirely: specifically, to photograph the back of San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos. As is often true, I'd previsualized a specific image, and knew that 24mm (the widest focal length lens in my kit at the time) would not be wide enough - but 14mm certainly would. And, I told myself at the time, 14mm is a great focal length for astro... if I decide to do more of that. As I've mentioned before, I resisted astrophotography for some time, despite a longstanding love of the night sky. Obviously, we can all see where that ended. ;)
For the gear-curious, that 14mm lens is a Sigma Art 14mm f/1.8.
For the not-gear-curious, all that really means is that its field of view is huge, and properly set, it can take in a ton of light - which is great at night.
I tossed my camera bag in the back seat of my Outback, and headed for the Sandia foothills... along with approximately a million other people with the same idea.
Having seen a few meteors light up the sky, I'd set my camera up to run a series of timed exposures, hoping at least one of them would catch a meteor. However, the meteor shower proved less eventful than everyone had clearly hoped, and within about half an hour, people began to leave. Finishing up a set of exposures, I debated doing the same, but... the night was cool, the birds were singing, and it was... quiet.
I put the camera away, climbed on top of my car, and laid down. The night was remarkably clear for the smoke and dust lingering in the air. There's something about the night, I thought, staring up at the sky, watching for another meteor. The night quickly grew colder, and I knew it was time to go. One more, please? I said to the sky. As if on cue, a meteor flashed through the atmosphere right above me. I waited a few minutes more in the peaceful darkness, listening to a pair of birds calling to each other across the sage and cholla.
Arriving home later on, I discovered that I had, indeed, caught a meteor in one of my timed exposures... and, in spite of the local light pollution, worsened by dust and smoke, the Milky Way was clearly visible in my photographs, rising above the Sandia Mountains.
Dark brightness falls from the stars. There is something about the night.
More next time ;)