I took a short camping trip to Palo Duro Canyon in West Texas last weekend.

I planned this trip to get a specific shot. I wanted to shoot the Milky Way, so I chose a weekend when the moon was going out of phase and planned everything out from there. Even with all my planning I almost didn’t get that shot though. The weather forecast leading up to the trip said Saturday night would be clear and cloudless every time I checked, however, when I arrived Friday afternoon that forecast quickly changed to say that Saturday night would be super cloudy. I made a go of it anyway and just hoped and prayed the forecast was wrong or the clouds wouldn’t be completely obscuring the Milky Way, and that maybe I could find a spot in the canyon where I could shoot over the clouds. I was able to find a good shooting spot about halfway up the canyon, and the clouds didn’t completely move in and obscure the sky until later in the night about an hour after I finished, so I was able to get the shot I was after.

I was prepared for the end of July heat, and I enjoyed hiking the trails in the canyon. However, I struggled to find compositions I liked during the day. Part of it was that I was trying really hard to find the wide shot of the skyline that I wanted to use for my night shot and probably overlooked some other great subjects that I could have framed. Even so, I had fun camping, and I was able to get a few photos in addition to my Milky Way image that I’m happy with.