My goal with any time in nature — as it is with my photography — is to get closer to the world around me. To make connections. To see something I never noticed before.
Here in the northern hemisphere, we’re now in the midst of our longest nights of the year. While some bemoan perpetual darkness — where I am nearly two-thirds of the day is night — I’m finding myself staying out late more often.
Night has a lot to offer. For one, I find it much easier to concentrate. It’s not just light that vanishes after sunset. It also becomes much less noisy.
A few months ago, I decided to spend a few hours in the middle of the night studying the stars over Mount Rainier. In the daytime, the parking lot would have been packed. A reservation would have been needed to even enter the park. Instead, I was alone.
The first thing I noticed was the sound. Without the percussive car doors and the drone of loud conversations, I could clearly hear the breeze. Wow, was it soothing! As I concentrated on it, I tried to appreciate its rhythm. It would get slightly more intense and then softer. In addition to hearing the change in intensity, I could feel it on my face.
In just a few minutes, I was captivated by the world around me. I had stood at this very point dozens of times before, but it was completely different at night.
At this point, I was inspired to get my camera out. I had watched faint lenticular clouds form over the summit of the mountain. They didn’t last long, but my interest in the night sky did.
When I first pulled up, Phecda, the lower left star in the pan of Big Dipper, was clearly visible. In the time it took to set my camera up, the Earth’s rotation put it behind Mount Rainier. During the day, it’s not usually obvious how fast we are rotating in space. But at night, if you concentrate on one star in relationship to features in the landscape, the rotation soon becomes obvious. And surprisingly fast!
I didn't notice any wildlife on this outing, but I sometimes do. I also find peace in seeing birds together in a roost or watching bats fly over ponds.
As we are in the peak of another active solar cycle where displays of the northern lights will be more frequent and more impressive, there are other reasons to venture out at night. I very much enjoy spending a night watching the aurora dance across the sky. But more often, I enjoy going out on a quiet night and looking for the subtle. That’s where I find my deepest connections to nature.
Kevin’s new book, Five Minutes in Nature, collects images and stories about his experiences in the wilderness, curated to help you have deeper encounters of your own. Preview and order it here. Prints of his images are available through LivingWilderness.com. Learn about new work by joining his mailing list.)
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