The class was put on by Jason Weingart and his team, who double as storm chases in the rainy season. We loaded up and headed out for the first location. Everyone got all set up and was focused and shooting test shots when a white Nissan pickup came down the road. We all scrambled to cover up our lenses to protect them from the cloud of dust heading our way and our instructor, Jason, was summoned by the driver, who was NOT happy we were there. He told us to get off the road, off the land, and that we did not have any permission to be there. However, we were on public land and public road, and he told him properly what he could do with his directive. The man then drove down the road and repeated flashed his tails trying to interfere with our shots. Soon, there were two more sets of tail lights and red and blue flashers. The local sheriffs were summoned and at first told us we needed to leave. So we started breaking down, but then the second deputy told us we could stay. A few minutes later the deputies were back, this time looking for Mr. White Nissan. We decided that our story was he had a warrant or had been a nuisance to others shooting in the area.
When our time at location 1 was up, we went back to the camper to grab a few hours of sleep and wait on the milky way. When 2:30 rolled around, our group of 30 divided up into three groups of 10 and we headed out to new locations to shoot the milky way. Our first stop was the Terlingua Ghost Town. If you are ever in the area, it’s a must-see. Across the road from the grounds of the Terlingua International Chili Festival, this hodgepodge of crumbling stone ruins, retro cars and campers, haphazard motels and a few restaurants are melded together in a very unique community. We visited one of the public ruins site, and our teacher, Kevin set up a dim red light inside the ruins and walked us through a nightime shoot while we waited for the Milky Way to rise.
Finally, by about 3:30 am, the MW was in full view and we got some great shots. As we were leaving, Mr. White Nissan passed us at the parking lot. We headed back towards our original location, but deeper into public land for location #2. There, Jason had set up a tent with a light for the foreground, and we were surrounded by cliffs, with a break just perfect to frame the MW, which was horizontally arching across the night sky. From there we went to the park entrance and got our last shot of the night, from the roadway. When we transitioned from location 2 to three, we noticed Mr. White Nissan was parked at the gas station by the Lodge. No surprise when once we were set up, here he came again, just being a nuisance.
By now it was almost 6 am and Ray and I were beat down tired, cold and ready for bed. I had put extra covers over the window in the RV planning on daytime sleeping, so we crawled in bed and got about 5 hours of sleep, which for Ray, is enough—but me, not so much. I showered and downed two full coffees and we headed out to explore some more.
