3P Photography: One Night In The Wilderness

To start off the new year, I set off with all the essentials: camera, dog and a blanket, for a night in the wilderness. Heading out after lunch we hiked into Featherstone Kloof, via Dassie Krantze, opposite Mountain Drive. The idea was to do some landscape photography and long exposures during the night. After finding a spot to throw down the blanket I headed down the valley to wait for the sunset which had some promise. It was a nice walk but the sunset was brief and not spectacular.
A Tenebrid beetle tottering past saved the moment as I was able to shoot her/him against an orangeing sky with fill in flash.

EOS 7D; Sigma 18-55mm @ 50mm; ISO 100; f16; 1/250th sec; flash fired remotley off camera at 1/4 power

After sunset the wind picked up, the clouds rolled in and we sat on the mountain slope cursing the weather's unpredictability. We had walked about a kilometer back along the top of the valley. Noticing how Grahamstown's/eRhini's city/township lights caught the low level clouds I set up for a shot including an oldenburgia tree (Oldenburgia arbuscula) in the foreground. The results, given wind, clouds and condensation were pleasing.

Canon EOS 7D; Sigma 18-55mm @ 18mm; ISO 100; f4; 9m15sec; external flash

By 10pm, if a squinted, I could see how the cloud might have been lifting. By 11.30pm the stars were out and the sky was cloudless. I had set up at a new position and tripped the shutter for an hour and half estimated exposure. The dog and I huddled against the cold and I watched shooting-stars and satellites streak the sky. Sometime after midnight we packed up and headed for where the blanket was.