Poppies and Triangles. June 2016

May evenings came all later, and on the roadsides of intercity routes the first crimson blotches of poppies began to flash. The summer was about to begin to flare up.

Somewhere just at this time a joke arose that I live in phases of the moon : ) Each new moon, from month to month, takes me away from city fuss to a date with the sky. The beginning of the summer of 2016 was the apotheosis of a night race. Within 10 days I went four times to night shoots in an attempt to realize my ideas.

 

May 29

I have long wanted to create a composition with a whole meadow of red flowers. This area was found a year ago for portraits, so I knew where to go. Taked off a tent, all the tourist equipment and was preparing to spend the night in the field. There is no transport right there, so you had to walk six kilometers from the stop.

 

Having calculated the time so that to come to the place exactly with the onset of the night, on the way I enjoyed twilight landscapes. Highly bright Jupiter shone in the sky, and in the south-east – Scorpio with Mars and Saturn in confrontation.

 

Unfortunately, the flowers were not as much as I would like. I saw this place last year and the field was completely covered with poppies. Now, apparently, there is not yet a peak of flowering and it is better to return somewhere in a week.

The problem is that I wanted to create a landscape with the Summer Triangle, which had already set up too high in the evening, and in a matter of days I would not have stood in the field of view of my wide angle. Details of all my attempts to create a photo with Vega, Deneb and Altair can be found in the Summer triangle above poppies reports from the series History of one photo

Well, I, having already been here, photographed what is: the flight of the ISS, the Dairy Path, the constellation Swan, the moon’s east:

 

 

 

 

It was by accident that, having photographed the tent in memory of the field, I noticed that Mars and Jupiter had the same stellar magnitude, and at the same time they aligned altitude above the horizon. Right in the middle between them is Spik, and from the top – Arcturus. The result is a beautiful triangle of stars and planets:

With a tent, of course, there will not be a full-fledged photograph, but the idea should be revealed. It was recalled that along the way, about ten kilometers from here, there is a center of space communication with large antennas, reminiscent of radio telescopes – I firmly decided where I would go the next clear night : )

The night retreated. In the twilight colors, the singing of birds and the beautiful sickle of the old moon in the east, this place was enchanted … No morning at home is worth the charm of the dawns in nature:

 

 

 

The way back to me was not less beautiful golden sunrise:

 

 

June 4

It was a good time: the Moon and Venus disappeared in the rays of the Sun, and Mars and Jupiter were luminous, thus becoming the two most striking objects in the night sky. The weather blessed on the next shooting and I packed things, went to the antennas.

The center of space communication is located near Zolochev (Lviv region, Ukraine).

 

From here to the antennas are about five kilometers on foot.

Even some clouds gathered for the night, but with the onset of the night there was no trace left of them.

Direction to the antenna, or, to be exact, to the perimeter of the object would have had to get through the crops of rye, which got me to the waist, and all was wet from dew. There was no penetration anywhere, so I decided to walk a little bit along the way. Became it was necessary that the antenna was located directly between the planets and under Arcturus, closing itself to the Spica.

It was worth it to start at 00:30, and I was already in place before midnight. The ideal angle was opened also in the cereal field, so I left nothing but trample the area for the tripod and its own things : ) Stuck in the summer triangle. A joke photographed from the hands of the ISS flight, having received in memory a meaningless abstraction of the tracks : )

 

 

It should be noted, I was careful that this center of space communications would be very light at night. Strangely enough, but on the contrary – there was an impression that no lanterns shine on the territory. It was only for my benefit – I have adequately projected the sky and received a dark silhouette of the antenna on its background.

Many details on earth were not intended to be received from the very beginning to increase the emphasis on the celestial composition. The light sources are separated by diffraction and diffraction filters in front of the lens, and 4 duplicates are made to reduce noise.

 

There was an hour before dark night. I made tea for myself and just enjoyed the beauty of space, although the tiled field did not give rest : ) But what will you do here? The sky is not moving, the antenna is also … I hope from the future harvest of more than one loaf of bread is not lost : )

 

 

On the way back photographed from a distance Milky Way over antennas:

 

It was morning, everything was covered with dew and an hour of walking through the fields I was wet to the waist:

 

Tired, but happy, on foot returned to Zolochiv and from there the first bus went home to fall asleep.

 

June 6

Despite the success of the day before, the issue of the Summer Triangle still remained open. The forecasts were ambiguous, but I decided to take a chance. Even the sky there began to drag on the clouds and I had a bad foreboding.

 

It happened. There was no lumen and the night was wasted.

 

But in the morning I appreciated the landscape! Poppy uniquely reached the peak of flowering and it was necessary to come here again.

 

7 червня

I returned home, but all the predictions this time insisted on a clear night, so I relaxed a bit and after lunch it failed again. Deliberately left a little earlier to get off halfway and take pictures of the day’s beauty: along the route there were endless grain fields:

 

 

I noticed passers-by, asked to make them a few photos in memory:

They talked, talked, slowly walked side by side. For all this, I lost my vigilance and missed the last bus! Trying to hitchhikers – no results. And the time was not enough! I had to make it to midnight to swear a field with poppies, otherwise Vega would be too high…

In some incredible way and in the nearest small city was found a taxi driver and took the challenge. As a result, I caught up with the schedule and was already at a turn at 11 pm – this is the place from which another 6 kilometers to go on foot. In an hour, in principle, I have to make it … And here, as if apologizing, the Universe made me a gift in the form of an old driver, who returned home: D I did not even stop him – he stopped himself and said: “Jump!”. What was his surprise when I asked to get stupid in the field, where absolutely nothing!

– You have what to do here?

– Sleep

– Where???

– In the tent

– That’s the youth already…

 

In a word, now I have not been in a hurry and even managed to capture the thin sickle of the moon in the west.

 

Visually, the field itself is not visible at all. I make a test photo of my hands: under the stars just a red carpet of flowers!

 

Unfortunately, to fill the frame, you have to take pictures directly from the depths of the field, and every time you run round and round and collect some dew somehow did not want to.

 

In a word, weighing all the pros and cons, I still decided to tire 4 square meters of flowers under the tent and far from him not to go away.

 

Дочекавшись ночі, пробую багато різних варіантів композиції з

Having waited for night, I try many different versions of the composition with Vega, Deneb and Altair. More about my creative flour over this story can be read in the report from the series History of one photo

 

In the south, Scorpio and planets shine. Sometimes cars are highlighted with flowers.

 

Closer to the morning, the Milky Way Arch extends across the sky and rises right above its head.

 

I decide to make a panorama. Honestly, I’m not a fan of this format, and with the night sky, I have not practically done this. There were no special problems, but it took a lot of time! To cover all the required area of the sky and make enough overlapping frames, we had to spend half an hour.

 

Photographed also the constellations of Perseus and Andromeda with several objects of deep space in the frame: M31, Double cluster, M34, NGC 752, M33 and even a few manifested Nebula Soul and Heart.

 

In 10 days I made 4 raids and, albeit not from the first attempt, but embodied all my plans. Now we only had to enjoy the beauty of the morning and give yourself the opportunity to rest until the next phase of the new month : )