After leaving Texas from seeing the Solar Eclipse last week, I made my way to White Sands. It's such a fun place to explore. One of my hopes, is I wanted to capture the Milky Way there. I have captured it there before, but that was quite a while ago.
If you know anything about White Sands National Monument, you know they are only open from Sunrise to 30 minutes past Sunset. The Sunrise is a fixed time that changes quarterly, so on this trip I watched the sunrise from being in line to get into the park. You will also know that there is no way to photograph the Milky Way unless, you do the backcountry campground which consists of 10 camp sites that you have to backpack into that are located 1 mile from the road. But right now they are closed. So as I checked with the Rangers at the Visitor Center once I got there, there was no way to be in there at night to capture the Milky Way. That's very disappointing, and really sad that we are restricted from accessing a Public National Park at night.
While I was photographing in the park, I had a brilliant idea! Since the park is closed, everyone is kicked out by a Ranger after Sunset, and the gate is locked. The Backcountry Campground was closed, so that meant that literally no one would be in the park at night. So I decided to find a place in the sand dunes where no one was going, I saw no foot prints, and I set up my D850 and Sigma 14mm f1.8 with an external battery, and I aimed it at where the Milky Way should rise, and I set it up to image all night.
I stayed at my truck, and made sure I was one of the very last people to get kicked out. No one came by at all where I was parked and had my camera set up. I knew it was a bit of a risk, but no one was supposed to be in the park that night so it should be safe. I sat there until the Ranger locked the gate.
The next morning, I was there 2 hours before the gates opened, I was the first vehicle in line. I drove the 7 miles back to where I had left my camera, and as I rounded the bend to the parking area to my surprise, the empty parking lot I had left at Sunset had a dozen vehicles in it! I didn't see any people, but I saw several cameras on tripods with trackers pointing up to the sky. Well, I hurried and went to make sure my camera was still there. It was, whew! I took a few last images with it of the sand dunes before I picked it up and walked back to my truck, wondering where these vehicles came from? They weren't there when I left, and the gate was locked! So how did they get there?
By then, someone was getting out of their vehicle, so I walked over and asked them how it was they were there? The guy said he was part of a Workshop, he had booked it a few months ago. Of course this boggled my mind.... why as a single person I was not able to spend the night in White Sands, but if I paid money to someone who then paid money to White Sands, then I could be in there all night? The person said a Ranger had let them in and took them back there. But it felt all wrong. I had asked the Rangers if there was anyway I could be there at night, they said No. But now a group paying money, was able to? I would have paid money (within reason) to be allowed to have been there all night. It wasn't an option for me. It really gave me a bad taste in my mouth, it didn't feel right.
I don't understand how our "Public" lands become "Private" lands if the money is right?
Fortunately no one had stumbled across my camera during the night, and I did come away with a really great Milky Way timelapse, and some awesome individual images. But having learned that even when White Sands has been emptied of people at night, it's not really emptied of people, because those who can afford it, can pay to get in after everyone else has been kicked out. So I won't be leaving my camera again like that at night.
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f1.8
ISO 3200
f1.8
20 secs
(I didn't use my new Nikon Z8 and Sigma 14mm f1.4 because I don't totally trust that combination yet)
This is a single image. The light pollution is from Alamogordo, NM.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
If you know anything about White Sands National Monument, you know they are only open from Sunrise to 30 minutes past Sunset. The Sunrise is a fixed time that changes quarterly, so on this trip I watched the sunrise from being in line to get into the park. You will also know that there is no way to photograph the Milky Way unless, you do the backcountry campground which consists of 10 camp sites that you have to backpack into that are located 1 mile from the road. But right now they are closed. So as I checked with the Rangers at the Visitor Center once I got there, there was no way to be in there at night to capture the Milky Way. That's very disappointing, and really sad that we are restricted from accessing a Public National Park at night.
While I was photographing in the park, I had a brilliant idea! Since the park is closed, everyone is kicked out by a Ranger after Sunset, and the gate is locked. The Backcountry Campground was closed, so that meant that literally no one would be in the park at night. So I decided to find a place in the sand dunes where no one was going, I saw no foot prints, and I set up my D850 and Sigma 14mm f1.8 with an external battery, and I aimed it at where the Milky Way should rise, and I set it up to image all night.
I stayed at my truck, and made sure I was one of the very last people to get kicked out. No one came by at all where I was parked and had my camera set up. I knew it was a bit of a risk, but no one was supposed to be in the park that night so it should be safe. I sat there until the Ranger locked the gate.
The next morning, I was there 2 hours before the gates opened, I was the first vehicle in line. I drove the 7 miles back to where I had left my camera, and as I rounded the bend to the parking area to my surprise, the empty parking lot I had left at Sunset had a dozen vehicles in it! I didn't see any people, but I saw several cameras on tripods with trackers pointing up to the sky. Well, I hurried and went to make sure my camera was still there. It was, whew! I took a few last images with it of the sand dunes before I picked it up and walked back to my truck, wondering where these vehicles came from? They weren't there when I left, and the gate was locked! So how did they get there?
By then, someone was getting out of their vehicle, so I walked over and asked them how it was they were there? The guy said he was part of a Workshop, he had booked it a few months ago. Of course this boggled my mind.... why as a single person I was not able to spend the night in White Sands, but if I paid money to someone who then paid money to White Sands, then I could be in there all night? The person said a Ranger had let them in and took them back there. But it felt all wrong. I had asked the Rangers if there was anyway I could be there at night, they said No. But now a group paying money, was able to? I would have paid money (within reason) to be allowed to have been there all night. It wasn't an option for me. It really gave me a bad taste in my mouth, it didn't feel right.
I don't understand how our "Public" lands become "Private" lands if the money is right?
Fortunately no one had stumbled across my camera during the night, and I did come away with a really great Milky Way timelapse, and some awesome individual images. But having learned that even when White Sands has been emptied of people at night, it's not really emptied of people, because those who can afford it, can pay to get in after everyone else has been kicked out. So I won't be leaving my camera again like that at night.
Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f1.8
ISO 3200
f1.8
20 secs
(I didn't use my new Nikon Z8 and Sigma 14mm f1.4 because I don't totally trust that combination yet)
This is a single image. The light pollution is from Alamogordo, NM.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
