"i can feel her love shining, piercing the darkness, reaching through, into me...i cannot see it, this invisible touch, but you do not need to see something to know it is real" ― bodhinku, invisible touch
pictured here is the milky way over the beautiful n'one-ame peak in southern california...it is the tallest peak in location to where i was born, and i have always wanted to capture an impression of it that was unique in my own style, while at the same time respectfully doing the mountain a beautiful justice it so rightly deserves...
and as many of you know, one of my recent obsessions is to take photos that are unique to their location, and/or have never been done before, plus will also be difficult for others to try to imitate and copy...
i have skied n'on-ame peak years ago with my old pup, the dude, as well as climbed it on several occasions...and having driven past this peak so many times, one day recently i got a beautiful vision in my mind's eye, with an idea of the possibility of capturing a nice impression with the milky way over top of it. possible because of its aspect to very dark skies to its south (in theory), despite all the light pollution flanking it on both its east and west sides...
and after getting tons of rain (and thus snow at higher levels) back in mid-april, i decided to try to get a unique impression of this iconic mountain with a nice snowcap and the stars...
after a couple scouting trips, and a couple failed attempts due to excessively high winds, good friend chip morton and i discovered it is possible to get stars at this location, and we both managed to get some great shots of this beautiful peak on April 23rd, 2020...
btw, there is an impressive waterfall in this image if you look closely enough...it flows seasonal only after rain and snow, and probably is about 100m tall...we tried to get close to it a couple times as well to shoot it, but were denied by high winds (again), a fenced off trail, wild brush and rattlesnakes...but will make a better attempt in the future again one day when it is flowing again...