How Wide the Star-Filled Sky, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

I took my older boys down to Santa Cruz for a couple of days of beach and boardwalk amusement park rides before school began. As night began to fall on the boardwalk, I got out my tripod and started work on time exposures of the rides and lights (some pix to follow).

After a while, a security guard came up to me and told me that tripods were verboten, and if I continued he would have to confiscate my camera.

Rather than the normal smart aleck reponse I would normally have made (e.g., “over my dead body”), I remembered I was with young kids and taking photos for fun. So I packed up my gear, and after a few more rides we headed out to the end of the Santa Cruz wharf.

The kids ran amok chasing seagulls and listening to the roar of sea lions while I snapped this roughly twelve minute exposure out into the inky blackness of the infinite sea and sky.

Of related interest: Surf and Stars.

[Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR zoom lens at 18mm (27mm in 35mm terms), 722 seconds at f/10 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Old Bodie Church, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

The south face of this old church in Bodie was primarily lit by moonlight. As I’ve noted, you get the most circular star trails when the camera is pointed north, so I was glad to see the Big Dipper pointing at Polaris over the wooden steeple.

During this approximately eighteen minute exposure, I “painted” the interior of the church using a small flashlight. To do this I walked round and round the building, careful never to stop the light in one place, pointing my light at the side and rear windows.

[Nikon D300, 12-24 Zoom lens at 12mm (18mm in 35mm terms), 1,083 seconds at f/16 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Standard Mill at Bodie, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

The Standard Mill at Bodie (shown here reflected in an old window) was used to process the gold and silver ore from the mines.

The rather harsh side lighting on a seasonal water slough and the mill itself is from the full moon.

[Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR zoom lens at 26mm (39mm in 35mm terms), two exposures (one at approximately 240 seconds, or three minutes, the other at approximately 480 seconds, or six minutes), both exposures at f/8 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]