Assiniboine's Fire

    On my recent backpack to the Mount Assiniboine region of the Canadian Rockies, I brought my tripod so I could try some night photography. After setting up camp I realized that the Milky Way would be visible to the south (if it was a clear night), the same direction as our view of the 'boine'. What a great foreground that would make for a galaxy shot. Two nights later I decided this was the night as it was very clear.
     I set up the tripod some 50 ft away from our tent and waited for it to get dark enough. My hiking buddy of many years and myself made our way to the camera in the dark and noticed two glowing eyes staring at us. Earlier we had seen two deer snorting and bouncing around just feet away from our tent. Although we knew this, as usual, when hearing noises and seeing glowing eyes in the mountains, my first thought is: bear. My second thought was: hey, he better not have destroyed my camera! Using our headlamps we realized, thankfully, it was one of those goofy deer from earlier. My first thought now was: whew! My second thought was: hey, he better not have destroyed my camera! Fortunately, he had ignored the camera and as we walked closer he moved aside. The whole time I was taking pictures, he watched us with his glowing eyes only a short distance away. It was a weird feeling being watched in the dark like that, but I kept reminding myself that if the deer is comfortable out here right now, I should be too. Anyway, back to the photograph.
     As the night grew darker, I was getting more excited about the composition of this image. I told my friend that if we stay up late enough, the Milky Way will be directly behind the peak of Mount Assiniboine and THAT is the shot I want! It will look like the mountain is on fire! The result is below. In post processing I increased the reds and pinks to make the galaxy resemble fire a little more as that is what I wanted to portray. I also thought the meteor added a nice touch but I won't take credit for that. Right place,right time. Thanks for looking!