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one day, i'll try this with film. goddamn digital noise
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While I was taking this photo, a 30 minute exposure of the sky as seen from Strani, Czech Republic, I was lying in the grass atop the mountain I had climbed at sunset specifically for the task of taking this photo. The night was chilly, I had on my brown polyester jacket, long denim jeans and had my hands behind my head, cushioned by my long hair, gazing at the heavens above. There were no clouds, it was a clear night. It wasn't too windy. I was thinking about everything there is to think about. I even though about taking out my iPod to listen to, but not for more than a fleeting moment. What on earth would I do that for? Ruin the fantastical beauty of this natural moment with some man made clanging? Good grief, no. Mainly, I had realized my iPod would come in handy as I would be proceeding down the mountain (okay, technically it is one, but it's more like a really really huge hill.) in total darkness, my iPod would serve as my flashlight.

As I lay up there, I realized true silence. Silence you cannot imagine unless you've been in similar situations. This is why deer and other animal hear you coming miles before you even see them. They live with it every day. I was hearing things that I'd never heard before. I couldn't tell you what they were, only that they were natural and so minuscule they normally get lost to the faint buzzing of power lines or even a highway miles away. I also learned that acoustics are amazing. I was able to hear two people talking in normal vocal tones, over a mile away, down the mountain from me. I thought they were near me at first, but then I was able to spot them under the steetlamps. I didn't believe it at first but, it was them. It was quite amazing. I had grown accustomed to the silence laying on top of there for so long, their voices were clearly audible to me.

I wish I knew the zodiac better. It would have made my stargazing all the more interesting, but no matter. Up there, with no big city light pollution, the stars shone as brilliantly as ever. The milky way arm was fat with stars.

The light hitting my camera sensor is billions of years old, yet to me, to us, it is 'now'. The perception of time is an amazing thing. We look into the past simply by raising our heads. That is also what photographs are: the past.

A Future Lived In Past Tense.