Although Indian Arm isn't that far away from civilization it very well could be since there is nothing along the inlet except assorted lodges and houses. This spot where I took this long exposure was in a relatively sheltered part of the inlet, a tiny park called Twin Islands. We had the good fortune of snagging the best campsite facing the inlet. It was such a warm night we never bothered to set up a tent and instead took naps between long exposures.

Still a star trail newbie

This is only my third try at star trails -- which shows you how much I camp. Although I read up about it I inevitably forget everything I learned and then have to look it up again. Thankfully, on an iPhone, you can (this night we were within cellphone range). Even so, out of 36 frames, this is the best that I could retrieve from the film. I made many mistakes, including blurry focus if you can believe it. Other times, a drunk camper would float by on a boat and shine a flashlight at the strange photographer who was trying to shoot darkness.

Film for long exposures, batteries, remote releases and rubber bands

Yes, I used film. A film camera that doesn't use a battery can be left on as long as you want. This advantage was apparent when I shot this side by side with my friend's 5DMKII. Just before the three-hour exposure was up, I heard his shutter close. But it wasn't that he set his timer early: his battery just gave out! And without the battery, it didn't even save the image. What a shame. A minute later, I just stopped my release. Eat that digital. A film camera, after all, is just a mechanical shutter that you leave open. Actually, my cheap release exploded halfway through the roll and I had to search around for a way to leave my shutter open. I found it: a thick rubber band. Of course, I used a tripod for these shots.

Incidentally, I did see a handful of the Perseid meteors but the only time I captured it on a frame it was rather innocuous and not worth showing.

I didn't keep any notes but I believe this is a five minute exposure near Granite Falls in Indian Arm.

Fuji Tungsten RTP T64

For my trails I researched and found Fuji Tungsten film. Tungsten film suffers less from reciprocity effects that turn the film's color orangy the longer you expose it. Instead, the Tungsten is very cool. I did no color correction on these images. Also it is a 64ASA film and so wouldn't be as grainy as higher ISO film - certainly better than that Sensia 200 that I used the last time I tried this. The only issue is that this film is very expensive and it must be processed by a pro lab (or yourself if you are good at slide chemistry). Still, when you have 35 frames of the RTP and you are exposing 1-3 hours, that's a lot of nights. As it was, we woke up three times during the night to reset our exposures. And after that, a day of canoeing to look forward to!

In this last photo I started fiddling with the aperture. When you open up the aperture you are allowing more light, when you close it up, less light. So the varying thicknesses in the trails is because at different times I would open or close it. Nothing really impressive but hopefully I'll do something better with that technique the next time I'm out in the boonies.