Castle Rock at Night

At Vermejo Park Ranch, they have a landmark feature called Castle Rock that rises out of a large mountain prairie. It is one of those places you can never get tired of photographing. One night, I went out there until 2 in the morning shooting it with the night sky, then painting in the foreground with a flashlight. The next morning I looked at those images and said – those look cool, but I really need someone to stand on top. (and by “someone”, I meant me.).

So the next evening I went back out and set up my camera to run continuously at a 30 second exposure and I climbed to the top of Castle Rock, stood on the very lip, raised my hands and stayed still for each exposure.

On a few, I propped up a flashlight to backlight myself, and got this image, which I really like.

I was starting to get a little disoriented standing there on the edge of Castle Rock staring into the dark with my hands over my head, trying to stay perfectly still. I remember thinking to myself – it is really going to hurt if I pass out and fall off of this rock.