“Venus and Jupiter”

During the new moon phase in June 2012, I traveled to Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP) to practice photographing the Milky Way. I finished about 3:00am local time, and decided to head south within JTNP along Pinto Basin Road to photograph the Cholla Cactus Garden at sunrise. While waiting for the sun to rise, I saw in the eastern sky Venus (brighter lower spot) and Jupiter (smaller higher spot) rise and glow brilliantly during the morning blue hour against a red horizon. It was an unexpected morning surprise, and a beautiful scene to photograph. Photo taken on June 20, 2012, at 4:50am PDT. Sunrise occurred at 5:33am.

These are the types of “all-nighters” I can really get into.