Haytor, Dartmoor

“Dolphin and Eagle Above Haytor”

This was taken in late May—the last Milky Way window of the spring. At our latitude, for June and most of July we remain in Astronomical Twilight, where the sun never descends far enough below the horizon and the skies never become truly dark. I had planned to shoot the Milky Way Core, but after arriving early and spending a few evening hours exploring, I didn’t find any compositions that would work well with the Milky Way Core. Instead, I found this alignment. I don’t know enough about astronomy, but the constellations I picked out on the night were Delphinus and Aquila.

I like this use of the Milky Way as a compositional device. It aligns much more with how I shoot nowadays; as I plan future astro trips, my I think my focus will be using the line of the Milky Way as a graphical element to complement a well-thought-out composition rather than the sine qua non of my adventure.