Meteors. Sunrises. And changing plans.

The Lyrid Meteor showers are in town everyone. Ever since I was a teenager I have loved watching the sky and seeing the meteors. My favorite time of year is during the Perseids in August. This year they peak on August 11th and 12th. But here in April we have the Lyrids. They peak tonight. I have to go work at my day job tomorrow so I decided to go out last night and try to capture one.

There were several problems with going out last night. First was my daughter's prom. It was last night and she and her friends had asked me to take photos. They weren't scheduled to get home until 12:30. That worked out okay. The moon was the next problem. It was up and bright and scheduled to set at 3:00 AM. That made 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM the best time to view the meteor shower. So my plan was to go to Lake Pleasant and find a high spot for meteors, then go to the lake shore for the sunrise.

For the meteors I chose my 24mm lens. I also decided that the Milky Way galaxy was close enough to the source of the meteors that I wanted to try and capture it with a meteor. So I concentrated on long exposures centered on the Milky Way. I saw probably 12 or 15 meteors last night. Only one of them was in my view finder. Luckily it was while the shutter was open. My family is especially happy with this photo because they didn't have to endure the night with me.

 Once the sun began to come up enough to make the stars appear less bright I packed everything up and set out for the lake. Without any clouds in the sky I decided to look for an alternative photo. The sky promised to be orange in the east as the sun rose. I have been waiting for the right opportunity to get a saguaro cactus in silhouette with a sunrise or sunset. So I rushed out to a nearby saguaro forest that I know is fairly open facing east. I grabbed the camera and tripod and went into the forest to find the right giant.

I had a plan when I left the house last night. Plans don't always work out. Sometimes you have to be flexible and take what the earth is willing to give you. I think it was a pretty successful morning.

You can see the full sized photos on flickr at: M. Chris Brandt's Photography.

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