48.8

One thing I wanted to photograph this summer was the Milky Way. Willie and I planned an August trip to Yosemite to shoot the high country and it also turned out that we would be there for the height of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Perfect timing on our part! We photographed sunset at Mono Lake and the Milky Way over Tioga Lake on our first evening.The clock read "am" by the time we got to sleep.

As soon as I woke up in the morning I knew something was wrong. I had no energy, I was having hot and cold flashes, my cough had gotten worse and my nose started to run like a faucet. I figured a good hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon would help. Nope. As the day progressed I realized I had come down with the flu. After several naps, some DayQuill and a hamburger I started to feel better. Willie and I hiked 9 miles to Upper Cathedral Lakes for sunset. Not so easy when you have the flu.

We finally made it over to Mono Lake to photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower and in 45 minutes I managed to captured 14 meteors streak through my composition. Satisfied that we had the photos we wanted we began to walk around Mono Lake trying to find some Tufa's, salt formations created by the lake. The Milky Way positioned itself above these Tufas and we setup and started photographing. Right in the middle of one of my shots I giant fireball streaked through the sky! Tufi's, Milky Way, and Meteors -- what more could I ask for (and thus "T.Msquared": Tufa, Milky Way and Meteors)!

Willie painted the Tufa's with 2 flashlights while our cameras exposed for the Milky Way.

I find the Tufa's in this photo to be a bit boring and cluttered by all the shrubbery and therefore don't love this shot, but I thought it was worth posting because of the meteor next to the Milky Way.

Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED:
24mm, f/1.4, 15 sec, ISO 200