The Goblin Valley in Utah has one of the darkest night skies in the country. I planned this trip during the new moon in the month of May, 2018 because I wanted the galactic center of the Milky Way to be on a bit of a horizontal plane. The only down side of getting this shot was that at this time of year, the Milky Way rises above the horizon at 1:30am. Yikes! This was a one day stop on a 2 week RV trip so I would only have one shot at it (pun intended).
When we arrived in the mid-afternoon the weather was windy with plenty of clouds. Although, this can make for dramatic daytime landscapes, clouds are a night photographers worst nemesis. I was really hoping for the best because this would be my first opportunity to experiment using low level LED lighting for my foreground objects.
Goblin Valley is a shallow canyon with amazing sculpted rock formations of various forms and figures. Some are a bit spooky, especially when you are with them alone in the dark!
Well, I arrived at the Valley at 1:15am and to my surprise, there were 8 or 10 red lights moving around the valley floor. I had no idea that the Goblins actually had red eyes! Turns out it was a group of other crazy persons participating in a Time Lapse workshop. Luckily, they were "wrapping up" their shoot and I would soon have the entire valley to myself. I took advantage of their lights to help find my way down to the valley floor and to the spot I had scouted earlier in the day. . After the last of the cars left and their headlights no longer blasted the valley, one of the most incredible night skies I have ever witnessed began to materialize. I stood there "in the moment" with my jaw dropped in amazement. After watching a bit the chilly 30 degree air reminded me I was on a mission and I began to set up my low level LED light. I used an orange gel in front of the light to give the "goblins" an orange glow against the blue sky. I shot for about a 1/2 hour and when the clouds starting moving in again I "called it" for the night.
After I packed up, I started to head up to where my truck should be. My headlamp was no match for the utter darkness and I lost my sense of direction. After a brief panic, I calmed down and thought as long as the Milky Way was behind me I should be able to find my truck. I hiked up the canyon wall instead of the trail since I could see nothing more that 10 feet in front of me. I finally had a "no shit" moment and pushed the unlock button on my key fob and my truck lights came on literally 5 feet in front of me. I promised myself I would never reveal this to anyone but now that I own a very powerful headlamp, I thought what the heck, it makes for a good story.
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