Big Bend nights

I drove from El Paso and got to Chisos Basin by afternoon. Set up at a pullout on the road to Santa Elena Canyon for the first night and then did two nights up at the Basin. Big Bend in February gets a core rise late but the whole sky is spectacular, and the temperatures were pleasant after dark.

The standout shot was the Milky Way over Santa Elena Canyon. I’d scouted it during the day to know where to put the tripod, and the core came up right where I wanted it. Twenty-second exposures at f/1.4. The canyon walls caught almost enough ambient starlight to read as canyon walls.

Second night I was up at the Window overlook. A Great Horned Owl called from somewhere down in the basin. Two coyotes answered each other from opposite ridgelines. A Javelina snuffled past my tripod at about 11:00 PM and I froze for long enough that I’m still not sure if I exhaled the whole time.

Light-painted a single old yucca with a very faint headlamp for a couple of frames. That’s the kind of thing that’s frowned on if you overdo it, so I kept it subtle.

Drove out with three nights of material on a card. Three nights of good sleep I’ll make up later.