I heard the median batting average is .246 for the entirety of MLB. WTF. Pitchers unite! This is a shocking number. Anyway, my Milky Way cleanup, commonly known as the fourth attempt, happened while I flexed my hours at work to get off an hour earlier than normal. Thursdays are a peak day for me, swing shift as some would call it, so I am always working till midnight. I headed down to the southern tip of LBI to see what I could see. I have grabbed a couple of sunsets here so I was familiar with the location and structures on the beach. Most people convene at the other side of the island by the Lighthouse. I will try that eventually, but since I am not most people I like to try the unpopular or less traveled spots. Hard to come by here in NJ due to the limited night spots in the immediate area. The initial thing I saw when I shut my car lights off was Atlantic City glowing in the sky. Gulp. Amazing how much light is put out from a small city. Casinos…
There was also a very bright street light probably a block or two away from the other direction that was casting some wicked light in the area in front of me. Was not expecting that scenario but we shall adjust. I could have walked out a bit on the beach and got out of it, mostly, but I am still a bit sketched being by myself late at night in an isolated spot. These are weird times we live in. You can easily see the line from that light here. I do not remember the steel wall from when I was here last. Probably paid no attention to it then.
I spent about an hour (1 – 2 am) – shooting different compositions before calling it quits. A few clouds low on the horizon too. Overall I would say it was a successful mission. Nothing print worthy yet, but right now I am developing a good understanding of everything involved. I did try stacking some photos and did not really notice a difference, grabbed a few extra longs of the foreground as well which ended up not being that much longer than the sky shots. Average settings were f2.8, 15 seconds and 6400
Ok, maybe one of them has a smaller print worthy quality to it. To be determined. I will do a few 8×10’s to see how they really look and go from there. It is still very early in the season for this stuff. Just started discussing a September gathering in Acadia which is always prime territory.
I was not fond of this next look when I captured it, but when looking at the big screen it kinda works out OK for casual viewing.
The perfect vantage point. If only you could see this with the naked eye. Yes I did take an obligatory selfie with me sitting on the bench which was posted elsewhere.
I was getting set to leave and decided to grab a look from right in front of my car. Why not right? I was going to try some panoramas while we are arched, but there is no way they would have worked out with all that light. And I would have been there for another two hours waiting for the stars to get into position. Hey, could have stayed for the sunrise! Not. 13 hour work days makes one a bit tired.
These were all taken on May 7. Since then, and up next, I went to an even unlikelier location. More on that to come. Thank you for stopping by! Till the next one.
Phil
Twilight and Dusk 