Glimpes of the Cosmos

The first time I ventured into the night with a camera, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Joshua Tree, my local desert, was my chosen starting point. Close enough for a quick getaway, yet far enough to offer an uninterrupted view of the cosmic expanse.

My early forays were exploratory, meandering around the desert, the moonlight casting vague shapes over the rock formations. Through countless nights, I pieced together the puzzle of Joshua Tree's terrain, the details of the landscape revealing themselves under the morning sun.

But I wasn't alone in this quest. On many occasions, I found myself sharing a rock with other stargazers. Once, amidst a conversation on photography, a seasoned photographer revealed what he was shooting on. I heard a whispered gasp and a voice saying, "there's a 1D here."

As I expanded my horizons, I ventured out on my moped during college nights, always seeking the perfect vantage point. One spot, in particular, held a special place in my heart — a hidden lava tube beneath a highway. There, the vastness of the cosmic ocean seemed to merge with the earthly one, and I felt like I stood on the precipice of infinity.

From my hammock in Malawi to the sea caves of Leo Carrillo State Park, I've captured the night sky across the globe. Each night, arriving at sunset and staying till dawn, I found myself caught in the eternal dance of time and space.

Carl Sagan once said, "The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know.”

I used to think that the allure of night-sky photography lay in the images I captured. But as I look through these photos, I see that it was always about the journey — about tracing our tiny place in the vast cosmic ocean, catching glimpses one exposure at a time.

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