Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Star power

11 Comments

I’ve been out of town for most of the last week. I, of course, took lots of images. But the main reason for the trip was to experience dark skies in South Dakota.

I’m lucky enough to have a friend from high school who lives on a farm away from city lights. For years we’ve talked about me going out there to see the stars.

My sister contemplating life on the prairie.

So last week it finally came together and my sister and I drove out there. We were so lucky that the skies were clear for all three nights that we were there. We spent a few hours each of two nights staring up at the sky with warm breezes keeping the bugs at bay.

I have 3 sets of night images to process, the barn, a tractor and the gate. But I need to learn how to stitch skies and foregrounds together in Photoshop. The learning of that will likely take me awhile.

Me letting her push the shutter.

For now I’ll share these single take images of my sister and me. When I learn how to process the rest of them I’ll share those as well.

We had a great time and want to thank our hosts so much for sharing their lives and their skies with us!

(PS: WordPress makes everything darker. I’ve used the lighter of my images but if it’s still dark, try looking at these in a darkened room on a bigger than your phone screen.)

Author: dawnkinster

I'm a long time banker having worked in banks since the age of 17. I took a break when I turned 50 and went back to school. I graduated right when the economy took a turn for the worst and after a year of library work found myself unemployed. I was lucky that my previous bank employer wanted me back. So here I am again, a long time banker. Change is hard.

11 thoughts on “Star power

  1. I’m glad you finally got there!

    I’m all ear when you get some free time. (You? Free time? Yeah, right!)

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    • The sky was amazing. I’m so glad we finally made it work too. The drive was long, but SD is such an interesting state, so many different kinds of landscape. Prairie grassland and mountains and rolling hills. It was all beautiful.

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  2. Omg gorgeous! These are not photos – they are fine art 💕💕💕

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  3. Wow, so fabulous! I would love to visit a dark sky area some day, its on the bucket list!

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    • I don’t know where you live, but there are dark sky maps available free online. You might be able to explore your state that way and figure out a place or two that aren’t to far away. OR you can go on a big adventure to somewhere really dark. It’s so fun to see the Milky Way with your eye v.s. counting on your camera to show you what’s up there.

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      • The closest is the Adirondacks, about a 4-hr drive– I’ve thought about it, but it is tough to plan accommodations around a ‘maybe’ sky!

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        • That is so true. It’s usually a 4 hour trip for me too. I have to randomly reserve a campsite 6 months prior to going, so you never know. It’s hard to do anything last minute. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve driven up north only to have clouds kill the night show. But I’m always glad to be up north and I always find something (multiple somethings usually) to photograph even if it isn’t my first choice.

          Liked by 1 person

  4. Wow Dawn – your skies are so impressive! It looks like you could reach out and touch them! I heard about tomorrow’s planet alignment on the news today and it might be a photographic opportunity for you as well. I Googled so you know, if you didn’t already, what is happening: “On July 19, 2026, astronomy and astrology enthusiasts are observing two exciting, rare celestial alignments. For skywatchers, an impressive six-planet alignment (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus spreads across the evening sky.” If you Google, you’ll get the exact viewing time for your area, as the planets rise at different times.

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