Night Light of the North Coast: Night Lights on the Avenue

The Avenue of the Giants passes over Highway 101 beneath the MIlky Way at Women’s Federation Grove, Humboldt County, California.

The Avenue of the Giants is as beautiful a drive as you will find. The groves along its 36-mile course line the Avenue with some of the grandest examples of the tallest trees on Earth, the California coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens. Some are thousands of years old. If a disproportionate number of my photographs are taken along the Avenue, it is only proportionate to the beauty that is found there. The image I’m sharing today was photographed from the hillside just off the road near the California Federation of Women’s Clubs Grove, one of the special places found in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

For only a few days during the year is this particular view possible. Why is this? Well, we know Earth orbits the sun, going completely around it in one year. This means that each day Earth’s night side is presented with a slightly different view of our galaxy as we travel around the sun, and the position of the Milky Way changes a little every night as Earth’s nighttime view changes. The most spectacular part of the Milky Way, that area nearest the Galactic Core, is now almost entirely beneath the horizon after dark, and we will see less of it each night until the start of “Milky Way season” again next Spring, when we will again be treated to more of the Core in the night sky.

I waited for months for a night when the Milky Way would rise from the horizon above the bend in the road at this spot. In my mind’s eye the lines and curves of the road, the trees, and the Milky Way would line up and interact interestingly, and, together with light painted in by passing cars, would make a good composition. And then, as so often happens, elements beyond my control intertwined with my own endeavors, with results that exceeded my expectations. I had planned to let passing cars bathe the scene with light, but I could not control how they laid their strokes of light. I don’t think I could be happier with how it worked out, and again I thank the Universe.

My brother Seth came with me again on this night. We parked at a turnout and had planned to climb up the hillside to get a higher view, but it was a great deal steeper at night than I’d remembered. Instead we climbed up only enough to be safely out of the way of any cars. I hadn’t realized how few cars there would be, but here at the thin end of the tourist season, only three cars passed us in the ninety minutes or so we were there. Two of them added light to this image.

The light on the road and trees comes from three sources in total. A truck slowly approaching us from the south caused the bright white glow at the end of the Avenue, as well as the light on the trees nearest the glow. The exposure ended just before truck came into view. Then the taller redwoods to either side of the road were illuminated from below by the passage of an unknown number of cars beneath the bridge on Highway 101. Finally, the red streaks along the right side of the road are the taillights of another car that passed us from the north. The taillights became streaks in the long exposure. That car was the primary foreground light source. Finally, I added a touch of light on the surface of the road with my flashlight between cars.

To see previous entries of “Night Light of the North Coast,” click on my name above the article. If you’d like to keep abreast of my most current photography or peer into its past, you can follow me on Instagram at @david_wilson_mfx . I update my website mindscapefx.com less frequently, but you can contact me there.

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Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Just when I think “enough stars already”, you come up with an image that is unique enough to make it new again. I love this. Thank you for posting.

Charlie
Guest
Charlie
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

There can never be too many stars. Keep it up!

One of the things I miss after moving is the view of the stars from our bed. It was my clock if the sky was clear.

And streetlights are no substitute!

🌠🌈
Guest
🌠🌈
5 years ago

Definitely one of my favorite things to see on kyms site, thanks to kym and david!!
David, do you ever teach photography at night classes?

David Wilson
Guest
David Wilson
5 years ago
Reply to  🌠🌈

No, I haven’t taught any nighttime photo classes, but it’s certainly an idea. I will tutor Photoshop now and then (and I teach it at CR), so I s’pose something like that could happen.

David Wilson
Guest
David Wilson
5 years ago

Thanks! I can’t seem to get enough of them myself.

I should have mentioned, but I have a photography exhibition up through November at

Arts & Drafts,
422 1st Street on the Waterfront in Eureka.

The opening is over, but the show is us all month.

wildman
Guest
wildman
5 years ago

Love it David. I get alot of symbolism in that photo. On the ground floor is us humans and our world, then the trees pointing up to the Milk y Way trying to tell us that there is so much more than just us in this universe.

Cool

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
5 years ago

gorgeous! I really like the distortion from the wide angle, makes it look more like a planet against the sky.

Willie caos- mayhem
Guest
5 years ago

Good read.👍🏾

Darris
Guest
Darris
5 years ago

Wow … incredible capture! Thanks to Brendt at The Benbow Inn for turning me on to your blog … 💙🌊🌲

Dc
Guest
Dc
5 years ago

What a beautiful pic. I feel blessed to have grown up on the avenue of the giants. I still live there and have raised my kids on the avenue. Its always been our playground. We are truly blessed to live here. Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures.

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago

I love your work!

Have you considered doing a series on nighttime greenhouses of Humboldt County?

They’re quite beautiful!