Foto Friday: Celestial Serenity
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS and the Milky Way over Lake Superior, Michigan's Upper Peninsula. © 2024 Eric D. Brown
Today’s Foto Friday came from a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in October 2024.
I’d been chasing Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS all week while driving around Lake Superior, looking for a clean composition. Never quite found one, the clouds weren’t cooperating, the foregrounds weren’t right…the usual frustrations of a photographer.
The last night we were there, we walked out to the edge of some rocks behind the Airbnb to try one more time. There was this little white house below us, the lake stretching out beyond it, and the comet hanging above the treeline.
Then I noticed the Milky Way.
I’d been so locked in on the comet all week that I’d stopped looking at the rest of the sky. There were clouds off in the distance, but overhead, the whole core was visible. I took a step back and recomposed the shot. Did a few exposures for the foreground to bring out the house and the rocks, then a few for the sky to capture both the Milky Way and the comet together.
It turned out to be one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken, which is a little funny given that I spent the whole week chasing something else. I keep thinking about what else I was missing while I had my eyes locked on the comet.
More of my photography at imagesbyericbrown.com or on Instagram .