What-->
A late night rendezvous at Basket Slough National Wildlife Refuge for a date with the stars!

When-->
Late.. very late!! I put 10:30 as a starting time but it may take longer for the sky to darken enough to get better shots. It depends on what you are trying to capture. This date falls very close to the end of the moon's cycle so it should have very little affect on the scene (I hope?)

Why-->
Why not? The night sky has been one of my favorite things to look at since I was a kid. Being able to capture that and see it any time I want is why I do it.

Where-->

We are NOT meeting at the pull off on the side of HWY 22. Drive past the pull off and on the right just a little past the pull off is a road that will double back, this is the road to take. Drive up the road a little bit until you are at a pull off area beside the ponds. This is the meetup area.

Here is a map.
http://dl.dropbox.com...

Basket Slough National Wildlife Refuge. It has more then enough space for the lot of us and also offers different features if we want to include them in the foreground. This location also offers us some solitude from the city lights and heavy trafic.

What you need-->
-Camera - Must be able to manually focus.
-Tripod - Steady as she goes
-Extra batteris
-Cable release - Not 100% needed as you can use your timer function but very helpful. (required for very long exposures.
-Wide angle lens - Again, not 100% needed, BUT will offer the ability to capture a larger sweep of the sky. A zoom lens may also be very fun to focus on smaller sections of the sky.

Additional things to bring-->
-Flashlight -it'll be dark, remember?
-ND filter - Not sure it will help, but could offer some extra flexibility depending on what/how your shooting.
-Fold out chair - For sittin'
-Snack/water - Might find yourself out there for a bit, never hurts.
-Light jacket & good walking shoes. - Still gets a hair nippy at night ;)
-Good attitude and a witty humor. Well, the humor is optional but highly recommended! :D
-Signed permission slip from significant other saying that you are allowed to sleep a little extra later on Sat morning. ;)

Blah Blah Blah -->
Consider this a free for all event. There is not going to be a lot of teaching but we will do a preliminary "Whatcha' need to do" bit in the beginning. This will get everyone set who might need a little help and refresh others that might need it. After that we disperse and find our camping spots for the evening and start soaking it all in. I implore everyone that comes to this event to take 1 minuete at some point in the evening to simply just lose themselves in the night sky and enjoy the view. Forget the camera for a minute and just BE!

If for some reason the weather acts up then we will reschedule again at a later date. Lets hope for clear skies that night.

For samples of what you might be able to capture and ideas to start planning for, please visit my blog post...

Here are some samples from Chris Sabato on his flickr page, here, there, and everywhere!

And here is the photo that inspired me to get out there in the first place...
http://www.flickr.com...

Here is map to show you where to meetup and how to get there.
https://dl-web.dropbo...