Such an amazing night photographing the milky way. The previous day the family and I visited this beach, Glass beach, and saw a Hawaiian monk seal basking in the sun on the beach. As I was making my way down to the beach I remembered that there might be a chance that the seal might be back sleeping on the beach. So I turned on my flashlight and scanned the beach real quick, but didn't see anything. Then I took this amazing shot of the milky way. After a few shots I picked up my camera gear and decided to move further down the beach right under the tree pictured on the left. I almost got to the tree and got this feeling that I should check one more time for that seal. Luckily I did. When I turned on my light, what I previously thougt on my first scan was a rock turned out to be a Hawaiian monk seal fast asleep, less than 10 feet in front of me! I almost stepped on a monk seal! This particular monk seal was about 6 feet long and around 200 to 300 pounds. The reason I didn't see him was that it was pointed in my direction. It was horizontal to the water line.
There was a lot more light pollution at this location than I was expecting. Behind me there was a really bright sodium vapor light aimed at the beach. Then there was a bright green light to my left shining on the trees. Then a car showed up and drove through my scene. I guess you could say that I used my surroundings to light paint my scene.
I have been trying to shoot some milky way shots while visiting Kauai. Unfortunately the weather on the side of the island where we are staying was not cooperating. I ended up driving to the town of Eleele for clear night skies.
