Milky Way, Medicine Rocks State Park, Montana
I’m ending my retrospects not with a photo from December last year. For actual reasons I show you another image from Medicine Rocks State Park in eastern Montana, taken in September 2020. In December, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) designated Medicine Rocks State Park in Montana a certified International Dark Sky Sanctuary. There are now 14 dark sky sanctuaries worldwide.
I consider myself a beginner for night photography. I’m looking into that for quite some time but I’m often discouraged by the light pollution we face most of the time, even in a not so densely populated area like here in eastern Iowa. Back in Montana last year it was just amazing and I’m not sure if any picture can reflect how gorgeous it really was. I have seen impressive skies before, for example back in the mid 80’s during backpacking tours in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania in southeastern Europe, but dark places like that become rare. We camped in Medicine Rocks State Park for two nights but only during the first the skies revealed some of their secrets…
If you followed patiently my retrospect series I like to thank you. I enjoyed sharing some of the photographic moments of 2020 with you again and I hope it helped to overcome the daily worries that might be larger than usual for some of you these days.