Went to the Arizona desert

[Discus-n00b]

Took a calculated trip to Arizona, met up with a good friend and we headed up to Sedona for a night then went out into the middle of nowhere on the very fringes of Bortle 1 skies for some photos towards the start of Milky Way core season while the moon was new. What a trip, I gotta go back. I was so fascinated by the actual Milky Way that I kind of messed up my foreground shots. Since I was using a star tracker It was either me forgetting to turn it off for still foregrounds, I didn't even take them, or I just didn't nail them quite right. I'll know next time, great learning experience.

These trips lately I've been taking I've really tried to focus more on quality than quantity. I find myself taking far less photos overall. Less to edit and sort through, and I try to get a few really good ones and still enjoy the place I'm at and the people I'm with. It's riskier missing the shot like this but I think it's a great challenge and drives me to want to keep improving.

Kofa Camp Pano by Matt, on Flickr
Kofa Camp Milky Way by Matt, on Flickr
Sedona Milky Way by Matt, on Flickr

Couple of Sedona landscapes
Sedona Pano by Matt, on Flickr
Sedona by Matt, on Flickr
Sedona Rocks by Matt, on Flickr
Sedona Church by Matt, on Flickr

Had a nice little campsite in the middle of no where, only saw 1 other group on the drive in and didn't hear or see anyone else the entire time out there. By far the darkest and quietest place I've ever been. Was wonderful listening to the campfire crack and pop while staring up at the brightest Milky Way you could imagine with the naked eye. Plenty of fireball meteors screaming overhead all night (You can see a shower of them in the left corner of the first pano shot above!). I've been looking at buying one of these new Broncos recently, the rental company upgraded me by surprise at check in, it was meant to be. Best test drive you could ask for, now I'm absolutely hooked. Side note I noticed in the edit, you can see a aerostat balloon in the second image of this group. This area backs up to the Yuma Proving Grounds.
Kofa Camping by Matt, on Flickr
Kofa Camping by Matt, on Flickr
Kofa Cactus by Matt, on Flickr
Kofa Cactus by Matt, on Flickr

[Second Hand Pat]

Wow Matt, a super nice set of images. I have been out west once on a photography trip since moving back to Florida from Colorado. I loved Colorado, lived there eight years and my daughter was born there.
Pat

[AquaticNerd]

Incredible set of photos Matt; absolutely breathtaking and you've really got me wanting to go back to Sedona myself. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

[jeep]

Sedona is beautiful! Nice photos!!

[Discus-n00b]

Thanks! I really enjoyed Sedona, It's a pretty bustlin tourist spot now which is kind of a downer, lot of traffic and people which I generally like to avoid if possible. Though I was surprised we were fairly alone at the viewpoint we were at especially as the sun went down. Was a super short easy hike in day or night to get to this spot so I expected more people up there. I think we saw a total of about 13 people including a yoga group that was done before sunset the entire time we were there. Excellent milky way views and a breathtaking sunset view. I'd love to get back out there and actually do more hiking.

Also cool, though no photo, we thought we saw a UFO and it took us a while to realize it was SpaceX's second stage blowdown, really trippy to see but awesome to realize that rocket just orbited the earth. Had no trail, looked to be traveling the same speed as a plane or helicopter, was as bright as a helicopter going over with it's front light on but zero sound from it. Just comes over as a fuzzy white ball in the air

If anyone is into aviation photography I can say that Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix is one of the best places I've been as far as aviation photography access and friendliness towards aviation photographers goes. It'll cost you about $6/hr for the garage (or the price of an Uber there/back) but the access you have looking over the ramps and runways is some of the best. If you fly in you could always get some shots before heading out to save the costs. Variety of aircraft and carriers is a bit lacking though. Depending on how the runways are working that day you can get a great skyline shot with the planes taking off and landing.
Sky Harbor Airport by Matt, on Flickr
Southwest by Matt, on Flickr
American by Matt, on Flickr
American by Matt, on Flickr
American by Matt, on Flickr
Delta by Matt, on Flickr

[brewmaster15]

Matt looks like it was a great trip! Photos were excellent and really well composed. Like the way you isolated the cactus. Airport shots were neat too... but honestly as beautiful as the scenery is out there, the night shots were just plain stunning!

Glad to seeing you getting out and traveling.

[jwcarlson]

That looks amazing, Matt! Excellent photography, as usual!

One regret I have was having travelled to Phoenix about 15 years ago and not getting out away from the city at night and looking at the sky. Whoops! Darkness out in the middle of nowhere is always shocking. When we fly-in fish up in Canada it's always one of the most striking things.

[Discus-n00b]

Matt looks like it was a great trip! Photos were excellent and really well composed. Like the way you isolated the cactus. Airport shots were neat too... but honestly as beautiful as the scenery is out there, the night shots were just plain stunning!

Glad to seeing you getting out and traveling.

Thanks Al! The night sky out there is one of the best I’ve ever seen, so worth the trip for anyone chasing dark skies. Been lucky to be able to check off a few photography bucket list items recently. Cant wait to do more. I’ve tried making it a yearly goal to take 1 good trip, specifically for photography, a year. I still have one floating out there but this may be it for the year. Traveling a lot more for work this year and I usually try to take my camera on those in case I get time to sneak away for a bit but nothing else on the books currently.

That looks amazing, Matt! Excellent photography, as usual!

One regret I have was having travelled to Phoenix about 15 years ago and not getting out away from the city at night and looking at the sky. Whoops! Darkness out in the middle of nowhere is always shocking. When we fly-in fish up in Canada it's always one of the most striking things.

Thanks! It can get very eerie out there, but it’s also very calming and relaxing, a weird sensation. You really realize what a lot of people are missing by either not looking up from their phones or the ones who can’t even see it living where they live. It’s shocking how many stars are up there that you can see naked eye.

I really want to do some deep space objects next especially having more experience with this tracker mount.