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The First Adventure
November 15th, 2023
Drive Time From Base: 1 hour
Time of Day: Evening & Night
Mission: Startrails 1st attempt
Results: Completed with additional Sunset
Having been a resident of Hays for seven months, I had always been intrigued by the stories I had heard about the badlands out west. The idea of venturing out into the vast, rugged terrain filled me with anticipation and excitement. Moreover, as I was taking an online course on astrophotography, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to put my new skills to the test.
I gathered my equipment, consisting of a camera with a bulb setting, a tripod, an external timer, and a low-light lens, and set out on the one-hour drive from my home to the badlands. As a novice in astrophotography, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I knew that I was ready for whatever lay ahead.
When I arrived at the badlands, my initial impression was that it was nothing more than a simple bluff that had been carved by the elements over time. However, as I drove on and passed yet another oil pump, I finally crested the hill and saw it - Castle Rock! This was the formation I had been searching for, and the sight of it took my breath away.
Having lived in Colorado Springs, where Garden of the Gods was a daily sight, Castle Rock felt like a familiar territory. As I had arrived an hour before the golden hour, I had ample time to explore the surroundings, but my attention was firmly fixed on Castle Rock. I was eager to capture its majestic beauty with my camera and immortalize it in my astrophotographs.
I started my adventure with a stunning sunset behind the rocks, but was a bit worried about the lingering clouds from the afternoon. During dusk, I took the opportunity to set up my Canon 60D camera with an external battery and tripod, and used my 24mm 2.8 aperture lens to focus on the rock in order to capture it in sharp detail. I then retreated to my car to wait for darkness. Fortunately, by the time astronomical darkness arrived, all the clouds had dissipated, which resulted in my very first O...M...G moment of the night.
As a resident of Colorado Springs, with over 1 million people in the county, the city lights created a significant amount of light pollution in the night sky. Although my parents owned a house about an hour outside of the city, the lights still obscured part of the night sky. I had seen the Milky Way before, but it was always in the summer, and still washed out by the nearby city lights.
As I stepped out of my car and looked up at the Kansas sky, I was completely mesmerized. Castle Rock is located in an area with Class 2 light pollution (Class 1 being the best), which meant that I had never seen so many stars in the sky before. To make it even better, there was a new moon that day, so there was nothing to wash out the stars. I stood there in awe for what felt like an hour, taking in the breathtaking view. Afterward, I went over to my camera and set the external timer to take photos - 17 seconds open with a 1-second gap for data saving, and then repeat the process. I wasn't sure how many photos I needed, so I set it to 300.
I spent an hour taking my first ever Star Trail photos. It was a dark night, and I watched the sky from the hood of my car since there were no other sources of light anywhere to be seen. Although it was November, the temperature was still in the 40s that night. I used my iPhone's app of Star Walk to find constellations that had so many other stars around it that I could barely make them out. After the first hour, I decided to move my camera to a new location. For my first image, I pointed the camera North to get the North Star movement, but I missed. I set the camera too far back and didn't have a high enough angle with this lens. However, it didn't turn out too bad for my first image, but there was still a lot that needed to be changed for the next images.
While I was in the field, I couldn't see the images stacked on top of each other, which made me realize later that I was looking in the wrong spot in the sky. However, I did know that there was another spot towards the west that I wanted to try next. So, I moved the camera, reset the timer, and started another hour of shooting. Before doing so, I used my car's headlights to focus on the rocks again. However, after the image was produced, it looked better with a silhouette cut out rather than the rocks. The wind started picking up, so I went back to the car to wait. I knew that there were going to be some airplanes to edit out with this shot because I could see them flying behind the rock. Then my timer went off, and I packed up and went home.
I couldn't wait to see if I had captured a star trail image, so I stacked together my first image while looking north, and I was ecstatic! It was my first attempt, and it was a success. Over the next few days, I edited my star trail shots and shared them with the world. I plan to return to Castle Rock with even more knowledge on how to take an even better star trail shot, and eventually explore other locations in Kansas to capture the hidden gems that the state has to offer.
As I pen this journal entry, I hope that my words inspire you to pick up your camera and capture the beauty of the world around us. You don't need an expensive setup to capture stunning images, all you need is the passion and drive to do so. Even my trusty old Canon 60D, which was released 14 years ago, is still capable of taking breathtaking photographs. So, dust off that old camera and let your creativity soar!
Christopher Schroeder
Written 1/25/24