About the Image(s)

Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-70mm lens
This is a blend of 2 images.
The foreground was shot @ ISO 250, f5, for 5 seconds. Illumination was supplied with Lume Cube 2.0 Waterproof lights mounted on a 7 foot light stand. Tripod. Much bug spray.

The sky was captured with the same camera and lens @ ISO 2000, f2.8 @ 8 seconds

The subject is the Ted Smallwood store built in 1906 on Chokoloskee Island at the southern and western end of Florida. The island is one of the 10,000 Islandsv chain. When the store was built is was the only location for dry goods and mail pickup for over 100 miles in any direction. Today the building is a museum and contains many of the original items that were for sale. The store is listed in the National Registry of Historical Buildings. The current caretaker is the great granddaughter of the original owner and builder.

To reach the building from the Florida mainland one must travel either by boat or by a 34 mile causeway that during King Tides may be partially underwater (it was). The store is at the southern most tip of the island and while the back of the store has a floating dock to accommodate canoes and other boaters, the front is reached by the only road onto the island. There is a small parking lot but the area is surrounded by dense groves of mangroves. I am positioned with my back against the encroaching trees and there is no other position in which to stand.

My sole purpose for this trip was to capture the Milky Way over the old store. This cannot be done other than in the fall of the year. Earlier in the year the Milky Way takes on a more horizontal position in the sky and due to the surrounding trees it is not visible from the front of the store (the position from which this shot was taken. The shot was pre-planned using Photopills to pin point the position of the Milky Way. I arrived at 3 p.m. to checkout everything and used the Virtual Night Sky feature inPhotopills to find the perfect position. Because of the dense foliage the front area of store is almost dark by 5 p.m. so I knew I would need to artificially light the store and thus brought my Lume Cube lighting system. I used two cubes and stacked them on a lightstand set to about 7 feet high as I wanted to keep the under side of the store in the dark. The first shot was taken after the sun was below the horizon and the blue hour was in progress. I had to wait until the blue hour started because I didn’t want any of the warm tinted light to wash across the Gulf of Mexico and tint the water visible behind the store. When the sun set there was almost no breeze, and no humidity (very rare for Florida) so the sky was crystal clear and I have never seen a blue hour sky so beautifully blue. After getting the first shot (5 tries to get it right) I had to wait for the Miliy Way to rise. It first appeared slightly to the left of what is shown here. Sunset was 7:08 p.m. and the Milky Way was in position by 8:45. I had to work quickly as the Milky Way was only free of the trees for a few minute due to the movement of the earth.

After taking the two shots they were blended in Photoshop to obtain the final image. Of note, I usually shoot the Milky Way with focal length of no greater than 28mm. for this I shot at nearly 35 mm simply because of the composition restraints. Now I’m glad I did. The longer focal length made the Milky Way larger and thus the Black Horse is more visible (Diane, think of this being just for you). Of note, there is some blue around the top edge of the store and you can see some blue in the water behind the store. This blue is due to the remaining light from the blue hour. Because the Milky Way rose early the deep blue colors in the sky and water had not as yet faded to full night.

An Important side note: The population of Chokoloskee is small, but very poor and uneducated. The nearest school is 43 miles away. They live in ancient trailers and primarily fish for a living both selling their catch and relying on their catch for a large portion of their diet. While I was setting up on this Friday night about 30 people including children who appeared walking up to the story through the mangroves. These were the locals who were coming to the store for two reasons. They set up on the floating pier behind the store and began fishing and crabbing for their dinner. They also told me they often come to the old store on clear nights to just sit and watch the Milky Way float across the sky. . As they caught crabs they put them in pots and boiled them. We talked and they told me stories about the old store (the great granddaughter was part of the crowd). They insisted that I stay and join them for dinner. I tried to pay them for the crabs and they would accept no payment. Instead I offered to send a framed print of the shot I have submitted this month. I eventually made 8 prints one for each family and one for the store then had them shipped to the store. Nights like this make my photography so much more meaningful. I enjoyed the company (and the food). I’ve received a phone call from each family to thank me for the print. I’ve also been invited back next spring when the Milky Way will be arching over the 10,000 islands. The locals say it is beautiful hanging over the Gulf. I’m looking forward to another crab dinner and hearing the story about the murder that took place under the old store 80 years ago. Sitting on the pier with these people was like going back 100 years in time to a much more simple and friendly time.