The other evening, I drove to the Corinth Reservoir and took some test photos of the Milky Way galaxy. These were test images for when I make my return trip this year to the Boreas Ponds. And you know I shall return, just like General MacArthur at the Philippines.
During my shoot, I made a conscious decision to illuminate the trees and signage to add some foreground subjects to my final image – a technique called “light painting.” Here’s a “before” and “after” example of what that entailed.
Photographers employ this technique to create something distinct in their nocturnal photographs. This was one of my first true attempts to employ this technique; without it, all you would see is a shadowy silhouette of trees.
And if the National Parks Service has their way, this kind of late night photography technique won’t be permitted on their parklands.
According to the photo blog PetaPixel, various parks commissioners and parks organizations are enacting strict guidelines for night photography, including the banning of strobes or artificial light sources to illuminate parkland for photographic purposes.
In Wyoming, for example, it is now illegal to photograph nighttime wildlife in Grand Tetons National Park by using any sort of artificial illumination. The law seeks to preserve the habitat of these creatures.
Meanwhile, in Utah, the National Parks Service is clamping down on light-painting on night photography in Arches National Park, as they claim the light-painting is causing disturbances for visitors at the park.
Obviously, photographers are divided on this issue. Some see the rules as onerous and overly restrictive; others embrace the rules in that they don’t need a stray flashlight interfering with their evening time-lapse photos.
As for me … I haven’t decided how I feel on the subject. I don’t have huge strobes or artificial light beams in my camera arsenal, so the only light painting I could really encompass would either involve a hand-held flashlight or the headlights of my car. In fact, the shots I took above were illuminated with the flashlight of my cell phone.
But I can also understand where the National Parks Service stands on this issue. They need to create a balance for tourism and preservation, and although the majority of photographers are responsible citizens who take their pictures and leave nothing behind but their footprints, there are times when accidents happen – accidents that can damage or destroy monuments or geographic formations that can never be replaced.
Plus … cameras are getting more and more sophisticated. My first digital SLR, the Nikon D70, had a top ISO of 1600. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light. My current Nikon Df has a top listed ISO speed of 12,800 – with settings to crank it even higher if necessary. That’s cool if I want to photograph the inside of a cave with the illumination of a safety match…
What I’m saying is, cameras are so sensitive now, I could theoretically capture the foreground scene with only the illumination of starlight … maybe.
As for my trip to the Boreas Ponds this year, the photo of my dreams will not involve light painting. That’s not because of any rules in photographing at night in the Adirondacks … it’s just because, for the photo of my dreams, light painting won’t be necessary.
Not when there’s a ton of stars in the sky for me to capture.
I hope.
No, seriously, I hope I can pull this off.
Chuck The Writer 
[Note: The Zombie Blog list was a former unwanted feature in Chuck Miller’s regular “Ten for Thursdays” best of the TU blogs lists]
“To the last, I will grapple with thee… from Hell’s heart, I stab at thee! For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee! – Herman Melville, Moby Dick – possibly referring to Ahab’s well-know dislike of the Times Union blogs.
The Zombie Blogs lists Times Union blogs that have been dormant for at least three months. 250 words a month isn’t going to kill you.
Zombie Blogs: At Least One Year Dead AKA The Erin Pihlaja Memorial List for Underachievement in Blogging
Erin Pihlaja’s former blog as head of the Troy Business Improvement District is what inspired the Zombie Blog list. For all its problems, the Times Union Blogs provides dying business districts, like Troy’s, a valuable, high profile, and FREE platform to advertise your events. Between January 2014 and May 2014 she cranked out 19 posts, a good output, then from May 2014 to May 2015 nothing. Not only did she produce nothing, the Time Union somehow felt leaving an unattended blog up for a year is somehow does not show how out of touch with basic journalism they are.
As for Pihlaja, who made a big deal out of her being a former “journalist,” she should have at least extended the Times Union the professional courtesy to fire off a note saying Troy’s businesses no longer need the free PR the blogs provided. No, instead Pihlaja thought it was a better idea for everyone to think that there was absolutely no reason to visit Troy to conduct business FOR A YEAR. It took moths of complaining to even get the TU to remove the blog. It was an embarrassment for both the Times Union and Troy.
Ultimately, the problems with the Times Union Blogs do not lie with the bloggers, but with the Times Union editorial board itself. Its lack of attention is unprofessional. The Times Union has a congregation of former and current AP reporters hovering around the dying beast that is print journalism. The closer to being killed off, the more and more print “journalists” circle the wagons and lay claim to a “high moral ground” which results in asinine decisions, like giving Chuck the boot because they literally did not know it was April 1st and were suffering from what can only politely be described as “cranial-posterior inversion syndrome.”
One Year Dead:
• Susie Davidson Powell: Last Update 4/4/2016
• Mikey Baseball: Last Update 6/11/2016: Its sports, no one cares, including Mikey.
• Outdoors: Last Update 6/15/2016
At Least Six Months Dead:
• Suddenly Senior: Last Update 8/11/2016: Someone better call the police for a welfare check
• The Guilderland blog: Last Update 9/14/2016
• Discovering wildlife: Last Update 9/28/2016
• Bethlehem NY: Last Update 9/14/2016
• Recipe Box: Last Update 10/5/2016
• The Green Blog: Last Update 11/15/2016: With all the treats to our environment from the Trump administration these freaking hippies can’t put down their bongs long enough to write a post. Good job guys, keep up your pace on the race to the bottom.
• Albany Improv: Last Update 12/27/2016
• Dowd on Drinks: Last Update 12/15/2016 [I like Dowd, but he ended his blog in December and moved on to other things)
• Reece T. Williams: Last Update 1/29/2017
• Marketing and design: Last Update 3/30/2017
• College Football: Last Update 1/7/2017: OMG WHO CARES! Not this guy.
• Warren Roberts: Last Update 1/2/2017 – Warren. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
• Ken Screven: Last Update 1/20/2017 Your retired Ken. Try squeaking out 250 words a month or give it up. Six months dead – what really is the point?
At Least Three Months Dead:
• The Observation Deck: Last Update 2/1/2017
• House of Hoops: Last Update 2/23/2017 : I never liked this blog. Medved only blogs for a few months a year, usually around college ball. If there was any way to do any less, I’m sure Medved is down to the challenge.
• Carl Strock: Last Update 3/13/2017 What is it exactly you do with your life Carl?
• Hot Topics: Last Update 3/14/2017 Really? Nothing of interest has happened in America since March? You make me want to vomit.
• Soccer as Life: Last Update 4/24/2017
Special Awards:
Assiduous Underachievement: The Television blog: Last Update 4/26/2017 – Seriously, 500 channels of $#!& on cable TV and you can’t find a single show to write about in two months?
Most Useless Blog Award: Table Hopping – How many blogs exist whose sole reason for existence to thrive off the failures of others and try convince us to patronize one of your friends latest pretentious eateries in Saratoga? Steve Barnes already writes for the Times Union and those columns appear online. If his “news” isn’t fit for his regular columns, then it probably doesn’t need to be blogged about. He doesn’t any need more space to share whatever it is he thinks he does for a living.
The “I Don’t Want to Open Up Comments Because This Blog Is Only For Us To Repost Interoffice Memorandum Award” goes to The Wildwood Program. If you guys aren’t engaging with the community, then you’re not blogging and the space should go to someone who will.
Finally, the Zombie Blog Award for Conspicuous Zombie Leadership goes to Rex Smith, the editor-of-beliefs at the Times Union. Rex earned my enmity in 2015 with his waxing poetic about his feeling of patriotism looking up at Mount Rushmore –apparently being willfully ignorant that the US government stole the land from the Sioux in brutal war then effectively ended their way of life. [http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/What-does-it-mean-to-love-our-country-6106460.php] In his scramble to prove to his readers he was still patriotic despite his criticism of the nation, Smith makes an absolutely asinine statement devoid of any acknowledgement of the horrors the Native American endured. He’s not liberal, conservative, or moderate, he’s a “journalist.” I’m not sure which one is worse.
Actually, yes, I do.
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