Portal By Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This Is Massive Natural Bridge Or Arch.

Emerging into the Light by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Surprises are always nice.This was taken in Monument Valley, just outside the park. My guide was Quanah Parker from Majestic Monument Valley tours. He had taken me to a small but excellent Ancient Puebloan-Anasazi Ruins near the valley located in a small canyon. As we crawled out (literally) of the alcove into the small canyon this was our view. The Milky Way lined up perfectly along the roof of the canyon. Beautiful and unplanned. Shot with a 12 mm Rokinon fisheye lens looking up. f 2.8, 30 sec. ISO 10,000. It has been difficult to find guides to go into Monument Valley at night. Now there is a guide and night photographer that is interested in taking photographers into the park to do night photography. If you are interested contact Majestic Monument Valley tours at 435-727-3432 and ask for Quanah Parker. Wonderful way to see the backcountry of MV. Highly recommended. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. It's a pleasure to post here. Cheers, Wayne

Whispers of Long Ago: (at Utah) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJt3EORByeH/?igshid=1tsw9rot4penq

Shiprock Reprised by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of Shiprock, the huge rock tower for which the town of Shiprock, New Mexico is named. Many photos back I posted a photo of Shipwreck from last year, and several people had expressed an interest in shooting there. We (myself, Chris Wray, Sandra Herber, and Eric Gail) shot there and ran into another group from Flickr including Willa Wei, Huibo Hou, and Wenjie Qiao. Some of their photos have been posted from the night, and it is fascinating to see how different photographers interpret what they capture. The photos vary quite a bit and reflect choices in processing and acquisition. Willa's group captured foreground photos at blue hour and as such they have more foreground detail which is beautiful. We arrived later and for the panoramas obtained a series of vertical single exposures, foreground included. This is series of 12 vertical images obtained with a 24 f1.4 Bower-Rokinon lens at 24 mm, f 1.4, 15 sec., andISO 12,800. The rock monolith is 1,583 feet, 482.5 meters high (from the surrounding plain). It is the remnant of the throat or central core of an extinct volcano, exposed over time by erosion. By the way, one of the photographers, Wenjie Qiao, has developed an excellent smartphone app called PlanIt, that helps to plan night photographs like this. Consider checking it out! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

In The Still of The Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is Flattop Arch in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, located about 36 miles (60 Km) south of Farmington. There are relatively few visitors here and at night the probability is that you will be there alone. It's a rough terrain after you traverse the initial flat area near the parking lot. It's a highly varied landscape with areas of clustered hoodoos, flat areas, ridges and ravines, and a number of small arches. There are a number of hoodoos that look like wings or tables balanced on a rock pedestal. In this photo there is a constant or static light behind the arch, and the front lighting is reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight. The light is reflected off a formation to my right. This was taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm, and ISO 6400. This is a single exposure. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

Feeling Small in Big Hogan by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is a vertical panorama in Big Hogan Arch in Monument Valley, Utah. After taking the panorama I photographed myself with the same lens and settings and added it to the panorama in the same position. As you can see, Big Hogan Are is aptly named. It is huge. You feel like you are standing in a cathedral. The hole at the top is actually overhead in reality. The appearance here makes it look like it is in the front wall, but that is the result of trying to fit the inside of a sphere onto a rectangular image. You need a guide to enter Monument Valley at night. If you are interested in a night tour contact Majestic Monument Valley Tours and ask for Quanah. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Arch Rock on Flickr.

Arch Rock in Joshua Tree National Park, Ca., USA. This is facing NE, away from the core of the Milky Way and towards the northern arm. The Andromada Galaxy is seen in the center of the sky.

Night on Fire by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 4: The Anasazi were a Pre-Columbian Indian people that lived in the SW region of North America. This is the Anasazi or ancient Puebloan ruin called House on Fire or Flaming House ruin in Mule Canyon, Utah. The name comes from the appearance on the rocks just above the ruin. In the morning at a certain time the rock takes on a color that looks like flames. I wondered just what it might look like at night, and found that the warm lights on the rock did reproduce the appearance, perhaps even better. I shot the standard close up views of the ruins but liked this wide view as well, which is a bit more unusual. The ruins are tucked in below a large rounded or elliptical rock dome with the arching Milky Way overhead. Disclaimer: No rooms or ruins were touched or entered in the making of this photo. The lights were placed in the rooms using a fishing pole and string. (No fish were harmed in the making of this photo either!). This is a panorama of multiple vertical images combined in Lightroom. Nikon 810A camera, 14-24 mm lens, at f 2.8, 14 mm, 30 sec., and ISO 8000. If you visit these sites please treat them with respect and care. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Reflections by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Reflections: The Greater and Lesser Magellanic Clouds are reflected in the shallow waters of the Great Barrier Island in New Zealand. The Magellanic Clouds are irregular dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way. They do have a “bar” of stars or brightness centrally but are not classic spiral galaxies. Observation and theoretical evidence suggests that the clouds have been greatly distorted by tidal interactions with the Milky Way as they travel close to it (Astronomy.com). ___________________________________________ As an observer from the Northern Hemisphere it was fun to see the features of the Southern Hemisphere sky, like the Magellanic Clouds. These lie near the “southern arm” of the Milky Way and are not visible in the Northern Hemisphere. ___________________________________________ Usually we just have to coordinate the position on the Milky Way, the moon cycles, landscape location, and weather to get the desired shot. Here there was one more factors, the tides, which I was not used to considering. At low tide there is a very thin layer of water along the shore which was perfect for capturing reflections. Luckily this occurred around 1 - 2 a.m. when the stars were in excellent position. Stacked image, 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. ___________________________________________ If you want an excellent guide to good shooting spots on the Great Barrier Island contact Carol @darkskysanctuary on IG.

Eric and the Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Sorry for the title Eric, I couldn't help myself. Once it popped into my head it wouldn't go away. It just has a classic sound to it, like a midieval knight going out to slay the arch (or dragon). I think you definitely slayed this arch. My apologies for posting a similar photo previously, but I ended up liking this one better. By the way, this is Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. The person slaying the arch with his headlight is Eric Gail, fellow photographer and friend. He volunteered to be the model for this. Hey Eric, I need a model release! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Light pollution from the town of Moab lights up smoke on the horizon from the wildfires in California. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

The Long View by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. Panorama of 11 verticle photos, 19mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. There is lighting with LLL (Low Level Lighting) . This is not light painting but is very dim constant light that is left on and attempts to match starlight in intensity, typically done with light panels on tripods. One advantage is that it creates little or no visible light pollution and does not destroy your night vision. You cannot even see the light until your eyes become dark adapted, and then you can barely see it. Please see: www.lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne