Seattle astrophotography meetup April 7-8

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Faded_80

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Link to rally point deets:
https://www.overlandbound.com/event/seattle-area-astrophotography-meet-and-campsite-cleanup/


happy 2018 folks! I hope the holidays treated you all well!

They have personally left me miserable and starved for the outdoors. I also went through a lousy breakup of a long term relationship. During the fina l breakup fight, she even told me that I needed to find new hobbies, and that they are not suited for a tech city.Mrs, if you think im going to give up automotive tinkering, offroading, camping, hiking... yeah right, hit the road!

Seattle and the greater puget sound region have a great gift of wilderness and a smaller metro area leading to beautiful skies alight with billions of stars the likes many have not seen. I started "overlanding" because i needed to get to remote areas to learn how to take pictures that i had seen so many times before in my granddad's NatGeo magazines. i road tripped endless miles and have photographed a handful of state's night skies, it never gets old.

that being said, im testing waters on interest and how many people would show to such a thing once we get closer to thawed snow. camping is optional, but probably nice after staying up way late.

basic required items:
camera capable of manual shutter control
tripod (debatable, ive done quite a few shots on stacked rocks)
shutter remote or self timer function
a headlamp with a red light to keep the light to a minimum.
cold weather gear to stay warm while sitting around for hours.

If you don't know how to take such shots, i will be on hand to teach a few people. might be hard to get to everyone if it gets big, but id be happy to try.

the hardest part about this will be working with the clouds, since there is no way to predict cloud cover too far ahead in time. I have had more than a few photography outings turn to duds in a matter of 30 min because clouds sweeping in.

After talking with a few interested parties, i decided to set the meet date for the last saturday in march. we will be venturing up north fork snoqualmie valley to nearly the end where there is dark sky. future astrophotography meets may be farther away, but this locality is fine for now. the site is big enough for 12 rigs up there to camp, possibly more. i will have long-exposure photography quick guides printed out to help people get started.

the site could also use a cleanup from empty cans and shotgun shells, so it would get two birds stoned at once to go there. ill be making a rally point post for folks to rsvp with here shortly.
 
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DK_XV

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I'm interested in something. I live out in the area (Easton) so it's pretty convenient and an awesome area to shoot.

My gear isn't anything too fancy, but I have the listed basics. I don't have high aspirations on National Geographic caliber shots, but I really enjoy documenting and shooting trips and sharing the photos. Nothing like sharing great photos of awesome locations to get more people excited and out there as well!

I went out over the summer to the Tetons to see the eclipse and had some beautiful night sky vistas. With the help of a nearby camper I got some pointers to take better night shots.

Sorry about the rough start to your 2018. Mine had a similar start as well. But that's past, and the future is more getting out there!
 

Faded_80

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ill share some stuff i have taken with the nikon stock 18-55 on a D5100 so that you guys can see what is possible with a bit of knowledge. all three pics taken in the alpine lakes wilderness used stacked rocks instead of a tripod, with a remote timer.


Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA
Lake Nacimiento, CA
 

Boort

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@Faded_80, @DK_XV

I'm rather far away her in Co, but would love to get together for some overlanding and night shooting if we could work it out. If you or others are planning a trip around these parts hit me up so we can get together and enjoy the Dark skys. I spent 10 days up in your neck of the woods shooting last fall. Flew into Portland spent a few days in Olympic NP then down the coast over the next week shooting as we went.

My friends and I get together for photography trips like you describe in the Colorado/Utah/NM as often as we can. (Profile Pic was shot this fall in Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP). We are already discussing an Aug trip for shooting the Perseid meteor shower.





Boort
 
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yeos

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I don't have any experience with astrophotography, but I camped out at twenty nine pines campground in teanaway last April and boy was it clear and full of stars. I may be interested in learning with my Panasonic gx85.
 

Quicksilver

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I'm new to astrophotography, and would definitely be up for a meet. Here are a couple of my better shots. Not great (exposure time was a bit too long), but not horrible either.

IMG_2485.jpg

IMG_2491.png
 
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Boort

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I'm new to astrophotography, and would definitely be up for a meet. Here are a couple of my better shots. Not great (exposure time was a bit too long), but not horrible either.
View attachment 44065
@Quicksilver
Nice shot of Orion with Canis Major on his heals. The shooting star between Orion and Cetus is an added bonus. Your lens/filter/sensor configuration adds some nice star effects to the brightest stars.

Boort
 
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Faded_80

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well, great to hear there are a few interested parties. we can shoot for a date in april that's TBD, somewhere in the warmer half of the state like teeanaway or somewhere around blewitt pass's roads. open to suggestions, take a gander at the dark sky map and shout something out.

i will be there to teach what i know about the art, so i hope others can get a feel for how to manipulate the shot and then run with it.
 
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Faded_80

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I set the date for the Seattle area astrophotography meet for april 7-8. it will be held about an hour outside of north bend in the north fork snoqualmie river vallley. check out the rally point post.
 
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Quicksilver

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Even though I RSVP'd as a Maybe, it's really more like Probably. The only things that would prevent me from coming are work related, which I won't know for sure until closer to the date. I'll be there rather more likely than not, though.
 

Faded_80

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Even though I RSVP'd as a Maybe, it's really more like Probably. The only things that would prevent me from coming are work related, which I won't know for sure until closer to the date. I'll be there rather more likely than not, though.
hey just so you know i changed the date to the following weekend on recommendation from Boort, since we will actually have the milky way within view that weekend. i hope that you can still come out!

"The following weekend Apr7-8 will be better (weather permitting) as you'll have no moon until 3am and it will be the start of Milky way season. While the Milky way is visible year round the core with the most stars and color is beyond the Southern horizon for the Northern hemisphere from October till April. Sunday Morning Apr 8th at 2:15 you'll get the MW Galactic core rising in the SE. Giving you about 45 mins of Milky Way arching over the Eastern horizon before the moon rises at 3am. I don't know the lay of the land at that location but if you can frame up a mountain peak at a heading of 30 Degrees you could get a Milky Way "halo" arching over it during that 30 mins."
 

NetDep

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hey just so you know i changed the date to the following weekend on recommendation from Boort, since we will actually have the milky way within view that weekend. i hope that you can still come out!

"The following weekend Apr7-8 will be better (weather permitting) as you'll have no moon until 3am and it will be the start of Milky way season. While the Milky way is visible year round the core with the most stars and color is beyond the Southern horizon for the Northern hemisphere from October till April. Sunday Morning Apr 8th at 2:15 you'll get the MW Galactic core rising in the SE. Giving you about 45 mins of Milky Way arching over the Eastern horizon before the moon rises at 3am. I don't know the lay of the land at that location but if you can frame up a mountain peak at a heading of 30 Degrees you could get a Milky Way "halo" arching over it during that 30 mins."
Added to the calendar and am VERY excited about this!!! Thanks!!!!

I RSVP'd as a maybe but my maybe is a near certainty - don't want to over commit but this is on the family schedule and I will in all likelihood be there!!
 

Uriel Ramirez

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If I'm still stationed here (Whidbey island) the family and I would love to go, any excuse we get to stay up late and look at the stars we are willing to take.