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Milky Way Chasing in Alabama Hills (Photos & Videos)

Astrophotography is like exploring space without having to leave the planet. Wrapping up another amazing Milky Way season under the stars in Alabama Hills, CA.

I've been fascinated with the night sky for as long as I can remember. Some of my favorite childhood memories include trips to the Vanderbilt Planetarium on Long Island with my family and sleeping under the stars with my friends at sleep away camp. Looking up at the stars, and later in life learning about them, had a way of taking me off this planet and sending me on an adventure into space.


I learned how to photograph the Milky Way in the summer of 2016 when I still lived in Florida. I learned how to do it just in time for my first trip to California. The friend I was visiting was awesome enough to drive me out to Joshua Tree just to shoot the Milky Way for and hour. He had to work the following morning, so I agreed to make it quick.


Leaving Joshua Tree after only one hour under those dark, beautiful skies was rough especially because I didn't know when or if I'd ever be back. Little did I know that 5 months later I'd be moving my life completely to the West Coast. One of the reasons being that I wanted to take advantage of the dark skies and develop some astrophotography skills.


By the end of Summer 2018, I had gone on maybe a dozen or so Milky Way/astrophotography adventures on the West Coast.


Here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

The most recent was my trip to Alabama Hills a few weeks ago to attend a star party with a bunch of west coast astrophotographers and space nerds. Some of which I have followed on Instagram for years. It was refreshing to spend time among like-minded and inspiring creatives in the astro community, as well as to put some faces to Instagram handles. I usually go on night sky adventures with just Juno, so it was awesome to change it up a bit and be with a group.


Alabama Hills looks absolutely nothing like Alabama.


California's Alabama Hills is about an hour south of Yosemite. It has rock formations built out of 82- to 85-million-year-old biotite monzogranite. It weathers down into potato-shaped boulders, making Alabama Hills an iconic and unique location for camping and photography, as well as film sets for movies.




I usually don't expect to get stellar images at star parties - I need to be alone or with two people tops. With a group of 10 - 30 people there's just too much going on, and it's not cool to be that asshole yelling when someone steps near your frame. I still get good images but it's really the environment I'm there for. I mean, what beats hanging out under the stars in a remote spot in California with rad people that share the same passions and interests?



Here are some of the distractions that my cameras picked up:

  • Headlights from locking/unlocking the car (I am so guilty of this because friends & I had to constantly take things out lol)

  • Flashlights from people walking around

  • A random group of people camping out directly below the Milky Way, so the light from their campsite got in the frame

  • Lasers and light painting


There was also someone bumping really bad techno music. While it didn't create any disturbance to my images, it certainly was not pleasant to my eardrums. I didn't want to be that girl, but after hearing the same Justin Bieber dubstep remix for the fourth time, I had to say something...

The music went on, albeit lightly, until 4 am when they finally turned it off. Juno and I were sleeping under the stars that night without a tent. Even in the stillness of the desert with no noise, it was still hard to fall asleep. The stars were just too beautiful. I stayed up counting them as they shot across the sky.


I felt like a kid again, just staring off into the wonder of space.


The Milky Way was fading behind me as I watched the pleaides, the hyades and Orion constellation rise up over my head. A sure sign that Milky Way season was over and autumn was on the way. Normally, I'm sad to see the summer go, but this time around, I couldn't wait to kiss it good-bye.


Summer usually brings about a lot of change for me and this past summer was no exception. After getting off to a very rough start, I spent the majority of my summer working on myself and adventuring around solo. This outing to Alabama Hills was my first time being with a group of people in a long time.


I was afraid of who I was giving my energy to, but this was the perfect place and setting. Some things may change but others will stay the same, such as my love for the night sky. Looking up teaches me to live mindfully and in the moment. It takes me away from the stupid stuff we stress about here on Earth and inspires me to ponder about the things that are truly important in life. Like, if dogs can survive long duration space travel and how to harvest pizza on Mars.


Visit my Alabama Hills Flickr gallery for more!












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