Night photography can be so forgiving. The photo won’t show the details from daylight, with its sharp contrast, but instead gives a comforting illusion. When a photo is mostly dark, don’t you feel like you’re being enclosed by it, like a blanket? Maybe it’s just me.

These shot are from various part around Arizona where I chased storms to catch the lightning. The thing about shooting lightning is that it’s mostly about patience and attention to detail. I watch the storms and estimate where they will be moving several minutes from now — then, I set the camera up and wait. The settings will be left to take pictures every ~30 secs and you hope for the best.

The Milky Way photo takes more work. First, one has to make sure that there aren’t city lights too close by, otherwise, it washes out the stars. Lucky for me, it’s not hard to get away from lights in the Arizona desert. The second part of the process involves some manipulation to make the ‘bulge’ of the Milky Way galaxy pop a little more. I prefer to leave the colors alone for the most part, but it can also look beautiful when there’s a deep purple or blue haze. Lastly, you sit back and wait for the celestial bodies to come out.