Travel Blog

Photographing the Milky way and shooting star

"Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
Posted by Kelvin Santarita Photography on Wednesday, 29 April 2015

This is one of the most exciting nights of my life. Me along with 7 of my friends had decided to trek the Gula Devi temple at Mcleodganj and camp there during the night. We reached the camp site by evening and started preparing for the night. We knew it was going to get cold so we had to gather as much wood as possible to keep us warm. We put up two tents for us to sleep for the night.A cafe nearby cooked the mutton we had brought, so we were prepared with some delicious food for the night, a perfect side dish with Old Monk.

As the sun set, we started the bonfire as it quickly became darker and colder. We warmed a bottle of water and prepared soup and maggie for all. Soon the bottles were opened and the night was on. We warmed the mutton as well on the bonfire and had bread along with it.

Soon it became pitch dark and we were only able to see when the fire increased. I looked up to the sky and to my amazement there were stars all over the place. I saw so many constellations I was never aware of.

I saw a crack in the sky with vivid colors.I knew I was watching the milky way. I put my camera on the tripod and aimed at the vivid spot.

I was really pleased with the results so I arranged my camera again.

Finally captured the Milky way
Posted by Kelvin Santarita Photography on Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Posted by Kelvin Santarita Photography on Wednesday, 29 April 2015

I tried to compose an image with the tent as the main highlight and  the stars along with the snow capped mountains for the background.

I knew the camera needed a 30 second long exposure to produce the image. So, I pressed the button and stood aside. I continued staring at the marvelous stars and suddenly I saw a bright trail moving forward illuminating the whole sky. I screamed to my friends without taking my eyes off it."Abey vo dekh....dekh ...dekh". We had never seen such a long shooting star, it lasted for more than 6 seconds.

We were over joyed with what we had seen. Before we had settled  the euphoria of what we had seen, my camera screen lightened up.

I look at the image.....no words to describe it, I had shot a shooting star. Thank you God!.

Here are some more pictures i captured during my journey.

Kutla

Kutla
Posted by Kelvin Santarita Photography on Thursday, 30 April 2015

Tosh 

Tosh
Posted by Kelvin Santarita Photography on Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Pulga

Pulga
Posted by Kelvin Santarita Photography on Wednesday, 29 April 2015