Pointing at our closest neighbouring star - Alpha Centauri
On my second night camping in this idyllic location, I checked my moon app before I went out scouting to make sure the moon wouldn't spoil my light painting attempt. I wanted to capture the milky way in all its glory and celebrate the giant cactus of the desert.
After my first night I learnt two important things, firstly, I need to go out earlier in the night so that I could start shooting before the moon rises and secondly, I need to put on more layers because I was freezing on my first night. So, I was a little more prepared this time round, I moved to a new location on the other side of the mountain because I wanted to get a higher vantage point. From my base camp I noticed quite a few large cacti up on the horizon on the other side of the valley so I thought this could work out if I can make it across the river and climb up the mountain.
Light painting the giants of the desert
Probably the third thing that I learnt was that scrambling over rivers, canyons and rocky mountains at night with just a head torch was not that easy! But as always It was so worth it, at this altitude so far away from any civilization there was 0% light pollution making the milky way shine brighter than I've ever seen before.