Neowise CometJuly 17, 2020; Lassen, California, USA; Neowise Comet at Lassen National Park;

When Colin planned a camping trip for us this past weekend, two months ago, he didn't know it would perfectly coincide with the Neowise comet being visible. What luck!

With a great site at Summit Lake, we had dark night sky and thought it might be perfect viewing. But since the comet is visible just above the ridge line in the north west and we were surrounded by trees, we couldn't see it from our site. He decided to try and spot the comet from the lake. While he trekked to the lake, I stayed in the tent with the baby. He got an incredible photo of the comet reflecting off the lake and I just had to get that photo too!

Neowise CometJuly 17, 2020; Lassen, California, USA; Neowise Comet at Lassen National Park;
 

So on night two, we traded. I left him with the baby and I went out to the lake. I got the benefit of him already scouting the position and showing me the trail in daylight. I left early because I was afraid to walk to the lake alone in the darkness. For some reason, I trusted myself to get back to the lake in the dark, but not to the lake... and it wasn't unfounded because I did get lost on the way there. Without cell phone reception, I took our only reliable headlamp, the keys to the truck, and he was without two of the most critical tools that are used when A wakes up in the middle of the night (hint: they are connected to my body) Sure enough, she woke up about 15 minutes after I left, and apparently refused anything but being held for the entire hour I was gone. Oops!

I took my time, tried some tight, some wide. All the while, having no idea that our sweet little baby was doing anything but sleeping soundly. But hey, I made some fun photos

Neowise CometJuly 17, 2020; Lassen, California, USA; Neowise Comet at Lassen National Park;

For those curious about the technical aspect. These were all on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III. I utilized the Starry AF setting in many and regular C-AF in a few where I wanted to make sure the trees were sharp. Most were shutter speed of 20 second or faster (beyond 20 seconds and the turning of the earth starts to cause the stars to blur) and I used a combination of M.Zuiko 7-14mm F2.8 PRO and M.Zuiko 12-100mm F4 PRO. In this case though, the real key to making these images was not the camera, but Colin.

Neowise CometJuly 17, 2020; Lassen, California, USA; Neowise Comet at Lassen National Park;