September 30, 2008: False Kiva

[xoxoxoBruce]

Most of us are lucky to see a few stars. Sometimes on vacation, we might get far enough for civilization to get a good show. But not many people get to see what Wally Pacholka does. That's because Mr Pacholka is a pro, it's what he does, and he works damn hard at it.

This picture of his has been on APOD and his site.

Mr Pacholka's description;

"The America Southwest is home to thousands of caves that were once home for millenniums of various Indian cliff dwellers. Few are as hauntingly beautiful as False Kiva, given its name for the round stone circle structure. The hidden cave sits half way down a mesa cliff and has a stunning "room with a view" of rock formations in Canyonlands. One can only imagine the thousands of times individuals through the ages saw the same view of Jupiter and the Milky Way parade across the heavens from their very own back yard... False Kiva is by far the most magical place I have ever been to and everyone that has been there says it is a hauntingly beautiful place lost in a time. During the exposure for this image the crescent Moon lit up the canyons and I artificially lit the inside of the cave. If the photo looks unreal, believe me that place looks like the most unreal scene time wrapped place I have ever been to. I have gotten unbelievably spooked at times being in there alone at night while I was just waiting for a mountain lion to return to its den!"

I told Mr Pacholka that I would link both the APotD and his site, because there is always some clown claiming every cool picture is a photoshop.

He replied;

Over 30 national parks in America sell my night sky photographs over America's landmarks. Each is a real photograph that has gone through each park's Interpretive Department to determine that it is genuine before it can be sold in their park gift shops.
~snip~
All emails should be directed to me (wallypacholka@gmail.com)
~snip~
I have been photographing the night sky now for over 40 years, made TIME-LIFE Pic of Year 3x for my astrophotography, and published by NASA over 29 times so with those credentials behind me and this photograph, I will not answer any emails that mention the photo being fake or Photoshoped as the folks at TIME-LIFE and NASA already did their homework in this regard mulitiple times.

The photo is a real camera on tripod photographed time exposure of the night sky as seen in this real Indian Cave with the exposure being long enought to capture the stars but short enough not to cause blur in the stars or the landscape.

I seem to have struck a nerve, but seeing his photographs, I'll bet he hears it over and over... it's so spectacular, is it real?

He continued;

May you and your team enjoy the photograph and know that each and every night there are things to see in the night sky and may this photo inspire folks to just get out and look and not sit in an arm chair and just say that it can't possibly be true and never venture outside. I travelled 800 miles 5 times to get this one shot (out of thousands taken) on the edge of a canyon cliff.
Wally Pacholka

OK, team... get off your fat duffs and see the world at night... and I'm not talking about a neon sign from under a pool table.