Petroglyphs & Stary Skies

 Two things I love... Native American rock art and night skies. It made me wonder: Is there an opportunity here to combine them both? So off I went to a petroglyph site that I thought might photograph well at night. The petroglyphs will be my foreground, and I will use LED lights and/or my headlamp to gently light them up at night. Covering the top of the photo will be a beautiful night sky full of stars. Of course, this is what I am hoping for, because at this point it's just all in my head. First, let me show you the petroglyphs.

Petroglyph site #1. There are multiple interesting glyphs on the boulders.

 

This photo and below: Close-up of glyphs at site #1.

 

 

Petroglyph site 2.

 

Site 2 petroglyph close-up.

  

Now it's time to sit back, relax, and wait for the night sky to arrive. I'll keep fingers crossed that it will be a clear night with visible stars, and that there isn't too much light pollution. The minutes tick by. Finally, at around 8pm, it's dark and I see stars!

 

Site 1: This one is nice because there are multiple petroglyphs, and they are perhaps even more visible at night, illuminated by my lights, than during the day! Although there are some wispy clouds, stars are clearly visible. 

 

Site 2: This one came out nice also. They old dead tree branches add to the sense of mystery. Perhaps hundreds of years ago the creator or creators of these petroglyps sat under the shade of this very tree! I got lucky with the stars. Even though this time of year is not ideal for viewing the Milky Way, you can see it's faint outline over the bare branches.

 

So there you have it: Petroglyphs and night skies in the same photo. My brain is already curning over some other rock art sites I might be able to photograph at night!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.