At its best, wilderness landscape photography captures moments of awe. I began pursuing those moments professionally in 1993.

For nearly 15 years, I made virtually all of my images during daylight hours. When the sky grew dark, I put my camera away. No film camera was capable of capturing the night sky as I saw it.

In addition, the idea of shooting landscape photographs deep in the wilderness at night was rather scary.

Then, in the mid-2000s, I began experimenting with the new-fangled digital cameras. By the early 2010s, anyone with a relatively new digital camera, a tripod and a fast, wide-angle lens could make photographs at night that film photographers could only dream of.

Armed with a new camera, I knew it was time to overcome my fear of the dark. After all, awe is often tinged with fear. What could be more awe-inspiring than photographing the Milky Way, a comet, a lunar eclipse, or a meteor shower over one of Colorado’s magnificent peaks? 

I clearly remember my first nighttime shoot, deep in the Colorado wilderness. It was August 2012. I put my new Canon 5D Mark III to the test: a shot of the Milky Way taken from the summit of 14,267-foot Torreys Peak. 

I had waited for a day with good weather followed by a night with no moon. When a weather window opened, I drove to the trailhead and hiked the steep trail to the summit. I met a few people heading down as I was heading up, but when I reached the summit, I was alone.

I shot sunset, then settled down to wait, trying hard to stifle my unease.

Slowly, the few remaining clouds dissipated, and the stars began to come out. The silence was profound. Then the glowing heart of the Milky Way, the center of our galaxy, emerged directly over Grays Peak, another Fourteener. 

Never before had I seen the most spectacular part of the Milky Way from such a dark and elevated perch. The sight was breathtaking. I left the summit about midnight as the best part of the Milky Way set to the southwest. Two hours later, I reached my truck. Two hours after that, I collapsed into bed after a 21-hour day. 

I examined my images later that afternoon. They were far from perfect. Today, as I look back at them, I can see how improved cameras and lenses, better software, and a deeper knowledge of planning, shooting, and processing night images would allow me to make much better images should I ever return to the summit of Torreys Peak. Despite the obvious flaws, the potential for ground-breaking new images was clearer even then, and I embarked on a series of night shoots to take advantage of the new technology. 

In the dozen years since that first shoot, I have spent many magical nights under the Colorado stars. Sleep is for photographers who don’t drink enough coffee.

For my first shoots, I concentrated on photographing the Milky Way, particularly the galactic center, the Milky Way’s brightest and most photogenic part.

The Milky Way is the easiest and most beautiful subject for a novice night photographer. In Colorado, the Milky Way season runs from about March 1 to Oct. 1. This is the time of year when the galactic center is above the horizon during the period between astronomical dusk and astronomical dawn, when the Colorado sky is as dark as it will get. 

My advice: First seek out a location as far from city lights as possible. Go on a moonless night. Consult a desktop app like Photo Ephemeris (you’ll need the Pro version) or a mobile app like PhotoPills or Sun Surveyor (available in both iOS and Android) to get information on the times of astronomical dusk and dawn, when the galactic center will rise and set, and its location in the sky. In Colorado, the galactic center can only be seen in an arc from southeast to southwest. Its exact position depends on time of night and time of year.

 Bring your camera, a tripod, and your fastest, widest lens. A 16-35mm f/2.8 lens set to 16mm is ideal. You can rent such a lens if you don’t own one. Arrive in daylight so you can focus your camera and scout out any possible hazards. Then set up and wait. Try an exposure of 30 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400. You may be astonished at what your camera can capture.

 For a complete guide to making professional-quality images at night, check out my book Dusk to Dawn: A Guide to Landscape Photography at Night, 2nd edition, published by Rocky Nook. 

The night sky offers many photogenic subjects besides the Milky Way. Consider the Perseid and Geminid meteor showers, which arrive like clockwork every August and December. A good meteor shower, viewed from a dark location on a moonless night, is nature’s most spectacular fireworks display. Lunar eclipses and comets are rare but even more spectacular.

Subscribe to an astronomy newsletter (I like EarthSky) to learn when the next lunar eclipse will occur and when a bright comet is approaching Earth. You can even shoot star trails, which capture the graceful arcs inscribed in your photos by the stars as Earth rotates. Once you begin venturing into the dark, you’ll lose your irrational fear of things that go bump in the night and experience awe in a way you could never imagine. 

 

For more information on Randall’s work, please visit glennrandall.com.