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NEOWISE

NEOWISE Comet -

Sometimes you need a kick in the pants to get your creative motivation going and that's just what my buddy Jasman did messag...
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NEOWISE Comet -

Sometimes you need a kick in the pants to get your creative motivation going and that's just what my buddy Jasman did messaging me about the comet Neowise, which by the way was the first time I had heard of this thing. So much in the news that a lot of people hadn't heard about it yet, I was one of them.

We brainstormed ideas and locations only to both come to the conclusion that this location was the one. I had seen compositions here before and always loved it, largely because the Shasta-Trinity national forest is so unique and this portrays SO much of what it is and how special it is. It's partly nostalgic for me as I grew up camping in this area and as many of you know, I was born in Shasta. Something about the forests and rocks and makeup of the land just really works, and nature laid up this absolutely perfect window of a composition.

By the way, it's an absolute miracle that there are scientists and apps and technology that work together to be able to plan a shot like this. I definitely don't take that for granted. The fact you can predict when a comet 65 million miles away will be visible via the light and direction of Earth's rotation and share it with the masses in a damn app to be able to capture a single shot that nature lines up like this is just ridiculous.

It doesn't come easy though. The comet is visible around 4 am, which meant an all-nighter that included a drive down to Shasta, and an hour or so hike up above a couple of lakes around 7k elevation in the middle of the night. It was a calm and comfortable night which was good, but it can always get a little spooky. As we hiked up our headlands caught glimpse of a reflection among a an upside down "V" shaped tree-line resting against the cliff wall above us. Of course we froze with our lights on it for a little bit, Jas wanting me to get a pic, which I failed at. It just stared at us, we eventually move towards our location which was a sideways direction from the unknown animal. Of course I keep checking my back constantly. Eventually we get near the lake but of course one of the times I check up and behind me I see eyes again. Whether or not it was the same animal, I don't know. But we're basically at the location so we move along and set up right where we planned. Still checking behind me and ruining some of Jas's shots I eventually calmed down and focused on the show that was about to begin, and boy was it a show.

It was almost like Vertigo, as the Earth rotated to reveal the Comet I felt like we were at the ultimate amusement park - mother nature. The Comet began to get brighter and brighter as it peaked from behind Shasta, just barely hidden, to revealing itself as you see in this image.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
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