I'm really rinsing as much as I can out of that one night we spent at Triple Peak.

I was hoping the Galactic core would have lined up right over the peak. I should have been there in June for that.

Still, I'm more than happy that I managed to capture the 5 shot vertical panorama.

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   triple peak Vancouver Island reflection milky way stars astrophotography mountain lake British Columbia

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From last summers trip up to Watersprite Lake.

This was shot a few hours after the moonrise and I did end up pasting in some extra stars. The light is from the moon.

Check out my latest video www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv6C6LEF1ok

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle -Fototripper

Tags:   watersprite lake squamish British Columbia nightscapes mountains stars astrophotography night reflections

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A half moon on a super clear night at -26 °C during the depths of winter makes for magical conditions.

In all honesty, as soon as I got out of the car I almost dismissed any chance of capturing a good image.

My hope that night was to catch the aurora, but with the moon being so bright I knew that even if the aurora showed up it would be barely visible.

Somewhat dejected, I trudged down to the shore of the pond with low expectations and extremely cold feet.

As soon as I cleared the bushes and got a good look at the moonlight on the snow, I instantly perked up.

Not only was the light utterly magical but the way that it made the pillowy snow sparkle was enchanting.

I'd walked directly into a fairy tale Christmas scene and I had to capture this moment before it melted away.

I framed up this vertical composition with a medium focal length and instantly knew that I had something special.

Within minutes the moon had moved higher in the sky and the scene was rapidly loosing that fairy tale atmosphere that had me so spellbound.

I walked away with a photographers high that lasted for days and forgot all about the no-show aurora.


Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   nightscapes winter snow ice frost cold freezing freeze frozen subzero night moonlight astrophotography christmas emerald lake yoho British Columbia bc gavin hardcastle Fototripper

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Oh man I love night photography.

I love it so much I thought I'd write a blog post explaining why and how my productivity went through the roof after I accepted my addiction.

If you have a minute, pop over to my blog for a read www.fototripper.com/5-reasons-to-love-astrophotography/

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   astrophotography moonscape nightscape athabasca river banff jasper night Photography mountains winter cold freezing ice snow stars gavin hardcastle Fototripper

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A most electrifying evening was enjoyed by myself and Michael Shainblum during this August moonset at Smith Rock in Oregon.

After a spectacular sunset, we hunkered down under the stars to await the appearance of the Milky Way.

We had to wait for the moon to set over the horizon before we had any chance of if it being dark enough for astrophotography.

Neither one of us was expecting the wait to be the highlight of the evening. As we sat there under the moonlight staring off into the distance scoffing copious quantities of chocolate, we both noticed a dramatic flash way off on the far horizon.

There isn't much in this life that make me put down a half devoured bar of chocolate. Lightning is one of those things.

We both sprang into action and began frantically setting up our compositions. As the lightning was so unpredictable and I had no idea how long it would last. I didn't dare stop shooting.

The ideal would have been to switch my camera into 'timelapse' interval shooting mode but I knew that would take at least a couple of minutes to set up.

That's two minutes I didn't want to risk loosing the perfect moment.

For the next hour we both stood transfixed, never taking our fingers off the shutter as we rattled off continuous thirty second exposures.

This final image contains a few different exposures that I blended together to show the more interesting moments of lightning, cloud positions and that gorgeous setting moon.

I feel that the final image accurately conveys how exhilarating it felt that night to be standing atop such a magnificent ridge.

At about two AM we hiked back down the hill and parted to go our separate ways. Michael had to head back home to San Francisco and I had to tackle the long ride back home to Canada.

We both had a huge distance to cover but I can promise you that we ate those miles with huge grins on our tired and crumpled faces.


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Download our Milk Way Made Easy Photography course here www.fototripper.com/milky-way-made-easy-online-photograph...

For the last couple of months I've been working on a big project with Michael Shainblum.

You'll soon be able to watch some hilarious but inspirational vlogs from our adventures under the night skies of Oregon.

Watch out for cameo appearances from Nick Page and Andrew Studer who just happens to do the best Peter Mckinnon impersonation I have ever witnessed.

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   smith rock oregon moonset lightening misery ridge Fototripper michael shainblum milky way made easy

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