Florida Keys

A little light painting of a lone tree against the Milky Way with a star filled sky.

The night of a New Moon with so many stars in the sky off West Summerland Key, The Florida Keys

I traveled three hours south to West Summerland Key to catch the Milky Way in the darkness of the Florida Keys

The trip started off with a traffic jam on i-75 with a truck that flipped onto its side. The drive through Broward, Miami and Monroe county otherwise went well.

I arrived first to the location around 2:30am to see if my favorite tree survived the Hurricane last year. It did, it was still standing on the shallows of the petrified mangrove roots while so much had been destroyed. The tree stood starkly against the starry night sky.

I eventually met up with Capt Kimo and William Leonard around 3am, then the fun began. the lights from our flashlights splashed the landscape, some times bright sometimes red, sometimes extremely bright. Claudia and Ivan eventually made it down around 5:30am, but they had stopped at several other locations – I am guessing at their arrive time.

We shot together, separately and through the early morning hours. The Milky Way slowly rose from the east around 4:00am and we continued shooting at different angles and locations till about 6:30am. It was a long time night and a long drive, but well worth the effort

Location: West Summerland Key, FL
Taken: 03/17/2018
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm F/2.8L USM II
Aperture: f/2,8
ISO: 3200
Shutter Speed: 30 secs
Focal Length: 19mm

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