Mystery of Stonehenge

I was traveling through the Hill Country during the summer months and found myself staying Kerrville for a night.  I knew that Stonehenge II was nearby and decided to go visit right before sunset.  

This is a neat mock up of the famous stone circle in England that was built in the Texas Hill Country.  I have wanted to visit this for many years but never got around to it.  I finally had a chance and I was looking forward to seeing it.  The stones used to be out in the country but a change in ownership has had them moved to Ingram and the Hill Country Arts Foundation.

I found the stones to be pretty neat.  In addition to the full circle as you would have found at a completed Stonehenge there are some Easter Island style Moai style heads.  However, with all the buildings, power lines, a ballpark, etc around them I found them difficult to photograph in the way I wanted.  I wish I had seen it when it was out away from town.

When I woke up at 3am the next morning I had an idea that perhaps I could photograph the stones and the Milky Way.  So I went back out the the stones.  I found heavy overcast sky.  I also found that the surrounding structures were much less obvious at night than in the daytime.  The stones were lit too so I would not have to light paint them.

I had my little Sony NEX 6 travel camera and used my tiny Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 fisheye.  I made several images of the circle and the clouds lit overhead.

After about an hour the clouds began to part slightly and I saw a piece of the Milky Way.  I moved over to position the camera and sure enough the clouds thinned out some and the Milky Way blazed in the night sky.  I began taking long 30 second images getting different cloud patterns.  

There was something about the Milky Way over the Stonehenge circle of stones that really made it mystical and seem a long way away from the roadside in Texas.

I moved around trying different angles on the stones and clouds as the clouds moved in and out.  The fisheye allowed me to really put the stones into image and still have the Milky Way.

The NEX 6 and fisheye combo has become a go-to setup for night photography as the huge view the lens has gives it an amazing look and can really take in the Milky Way.

That wide view really came in handy here as it let me really put the stones into the image and capture the mystery of stone circles and the magic of the night sky.