Nights on the Nolan River

As the year progressed in 2015 and the months went by, I kept trying to photograph the bluff on the Nolan River for a particular image I had in mind (see the prior post).  On nights that did not happen I would try to photograph other sections of the Nolan River that had easier access and that would remain above the rising levels of Lake Whitney.

Farther upstream of the best area are more rocky sections, another bluff, and a great old stone railroad trestle. 

In the spring months I knew I might be able to frame the Milky Way above the trestle.  So on one of those predawn mornings where the river was too deep and fast to wade to the bluff, I went to the trestle.  Here the access is easy with some good rocky areas to shoot from and remain above the higher moving waters.  That is the top image here.

I would end up trying here on a couple of different mornings.  Since you need dark skies to photograph the Milky Way you are limited to those times when the moon is not in the sky.  So we could not try every weekend, but would give it a go when we could even if it was cloudy as you never know if the clouds will part long enough to get even one image.

So sometimes we were able to get the shots, other times were were not able to.  Every day and every attempt is different.  You do what you can with whatever conditions you find-that is just the nature of being a landscape photographer.

So over the course of the summer I kept trying to get to the bluff and kept having one thing or another keep it out of reach.  Each morning I would have to adapt and go to a different location or wade as far as I could get and take images.


It was both a fun and frustrating year which finally paid off in October with getting the image! (again see last blog post).

It is late in the Milky Way season as we approach the time of the year where we do not see the galactic core but there is still the less bright spiral arm to photograph and then the anticipation to mid-February when the Galactic Core reappears in the east just before dawn.