I have mentioned this before, but I just love serendipity. In fact, I think I love serendipity so much that I have what might be diagnosed as a serendipity fetish. I don’t mean that in a kinky way – I am not even sure what that would mean. No, I am talking about it in a photography context.
I am not the first to discuss “photographic serendipity”, but I might be the first to try and define it.
Photographic Serendipity. Noun. Wonderful, lucky opportunities or happenings that sometimes, with no apparent rhyme or reason, bestow themselves upon an unexpecting, but nonetheless grateful photographer.
When the photo gods grant me a bit of photographic serendipity, I take it, and I am happy. Such was the case several weeks ago in New Mexico at Vermejo Park Ranch.
On the most active night of the Perseid Meteor Shower, I went out to Vermejo’s iconic Castle Rock and tried my luck at “catching” meteors with my camera. It is not as easy as it sounds.
I had two cameras set up on tripods and after setting up the focus and exposure, I locked down the cable releases and let them run continuously. I pointed them at Castle Rock so that part of the Milky Was was visible and hoped for a meteor to flash by during my 25 second exposures. Most of the time I stared in wonder and exasperation as meteors flashed by exactly where my cameras were not pointed. But I did manage to get a handful of nice photos.
These images are not what I would call “serendipitous”, though. I knew what I was going for and I was not surprised at the result. I used a nifty little app called PhotoPills to look up when the moon would set that night and give me the best opportunities. Working two cameras, I knew I had a fair chance to get some images like this.
After I had shot awhile from the base of Castle Rock, I decided to climb on top with my headlamp and add myself as an extra element to the scene. I tried backlighting myself, pointing my headlamp at the camera, light-painting part of the foreground, etc. When I got down, I checked the back of the camera and found the image below.
Lo and behold, there was a flying object**** streaking right toward me and the little spot of light from my headlamp. How cool!
It wasn’t until I checked my camera the next day that things got really weird. As I flipped through 15 consecutive 25 second images, I found that the object not only made a perfect pass above me on the edge of Castle Rock, but it passed me at the exact (25 second) moment I turned my headlamp toward the camera. The result when played as a video looks almost as if the object struck me and released an explosion of light. Wow! Now that is photographic serendipity!
Here is an animated GIF showing the whole series of 15 images. Double click on it to see it full screen. If you would like to go to Vermejo, I am returning next month to lead an “Elk and Aspens” photo workshop. Contact me for more info!
****It would have taken over 6 minutes to streak across the sky from about 4:19am to 4:25am on August 12. Was it instead a satellite? The International Space Station? I have tried to check using my Sky Guide app, but have not found the answer. Thoughts?
Night Photography Resources
Lightstalking provides an excellent resource titled How to Master Night Sky Photography with lots of helpful tips and links.
Night Photography Workshops
Several of my photo workshops feature night photography. Contact me if you are interested and I can provide more information.
Night Photography Posts
Check out some of my other blog posts about photographing at night.
That is way cool! You are so lucky. So lucky!! And then you noticed the opportunity and grabbed it. Way to go!