Looking Glass

Photograph by Russell Pugh

On May 2-4, 2019, the first-ever Night Photography Conference took place in Moab, UT. I teamed up with a couple of buddies I met a couple of years earlier. We'd just finished Day 2, and we were all pretty exhausted from Day 1 and from photographing until 3 or 4 in the morning. We drank a lot of coffee during the conference since we were all up late chasing the stars. When we arrived at Looking Glass Arch, we all woke up with adrenaline pumping to capture some amazing photos here. We started with some star trails since we had to wait for the Milky Way to rise, so this image was taken much later in the night. As I walked back to the vehicles, I saw the scene I wanted to capture: a beautiful panoramic of the Milky Way, with a low-level light on the arch and one under the Juniper tree to really help create the scene.

After capturing the panoramic, I ended up taking over 60 photos, and editing took about an hour and a half. The end result is what you see before you. I have printed this once before, and it hung on our wall for 3 years before anyone really saw it. I printed it for the 2020 art show season, which didn't happen. In 2023, when I was finally back in the art show scene, I sold the print at a local art show. The print measured 34 x 60, and to this date, it's the largest aluminum print I have sold. I think it's time this photo makes a comeback to the 2027 art show scene. If I win the contest, that print will stay on our wall, and I will print it big once again.

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