North Star with Saguaro and Ocotillo

Kofa Mountains, Arizona, November 1995

The Kofa Mountains are a rugged but beautiful desert mountain range in western Arizona. This exposure was taken a short distance away from our campsite, away from the light of our campfire.

I placed the camera on a tripod, framing a saguaro cactus so that the north star appeared over its shoulder. I set the aperture wide open, focused at infinity, and locked the shutter open. When I returned two hours later, I refocused on the saguaro and ocotillo in the foreground, lit them with a couple of flashes, and closed the shutter.

As the earth turned during the two-hour exposure, the stars appeared to rotate 30 degrees about the north star, leaving circular trails on the film. The stars, which are different colors on the film, appear white when viewed with the naked eye due to the human eye's lack of color vision at low light levels. Two airplanes that passed while the shutter was open also left faint, straight trails across the center of the photo.

Scanned by Rick Scott using a Nikon Coolscan 35mm film scanner and Adobe Photoshop.