Goblin Valley at Night

We left Goblin Valley with the intention of catching sunset and spending the night at Capitol Reef. Once there we found the scenic drive closed due to ice. Didn't know if it would be a good sunset since the sky was clear, ie no clouds. HHMMM what to do?



That question lingered for about a nanosecond, I'm an IT guy professionally, before I decided to turn around and head back to Goblin Valley. No clouds and a close to new moon means great night shooting. After getting back to Goblin Valley and scouting around a little in the dark I found this first group of Goblins. The first image was a straight 30 second exposure with my Sigma 20mm f1.8 lens. The second was still a 30 second exposure but I turned on my lantern for a few seconds to light up the Goblins just a little.



After a couple 30 second exposures I went for a couple half hour ones. Picking different Goblins varied the images a little. The streak of light going off to the right I figure is the space station. I saw it going across the sky when I was shooting and wondered if I had captured it. Airplanes have blinking lights that leave a pattern (and yes there were plane lights in this that I took out).



During these last two exposures there wasn't anything to do but wait. So I sat against a rock and counted meteors, I think about a half dozen. Also during that time I got really cold. I figure the temps were in the low 20s but laying on the ground really sapped my warmth. I wouldn't warm up the rest of the night but I did get these fun images.

Roger