We happened upon a seemingly abandoned parking lot somewhere near Mount Shasta, on some lonely two-lane highway... I snapped a few shots of the Milky Way shining above us from the lot, but I knew I had to venture out into the middle of the road to get the composition I wanted.

I quickly discovered that the road itself wasn't so lonely; my long exposures to capture the stars were 25 seconds each, but no matter how/when I timed them, standing there in the chilly wind on the yellow lines, a car or truck would come careening around the corner, blinding me! I'd yank my tripod away at the last second, and the entire affair was very, as they say, dodgy.

Eventually, I came to embrace the cars themselves as an essential part of this shooting session, their new light vying with the ancient light from the stars above...