"Driftwood Beach at Night Panorama"

Jekyll Island is an awesome experience at night...

It begins by arriving late at night, about 2:00am. The night starts a little earlier if you include the wake up alarm at 12:30am and the 1.5 hour road trip depending on where you are driving from. In my case, Savannah, GA. So, you arrive about 2:00am and park along the road where there is a path through forest which comes out on Driftwood Beach. Now, it's eerie enough walking through the woods at 2:00am. It's dark, no lights once you leave the street, and on the beach you are not supposed to turn any lights on, including flash lights. Lights scare the Loggerhead Sea Turtles away, so there is an ordinance against using flashlights (with the exception of dim red colored lights) and you could get fined for using them. Anyway, before you see the ocean at night, about half way through the forest you begin to hear the ocean. The waves rolling up on the beach make an unmistakable crash after crash of water sound. I'm sure you've heard it before if you've been to the beach. It's an odd sound standing in the forest though. 

Continuing along the path through the forest, you eventually come out onto Driftwood Beach. 

"Driftwood Beach at Night"

It's an amazing sight just to see the Milky Way. It's much darker on the beach than what these pictures depict. It takes a few minutes for your eyes to get adjusted to the dark, but eventually they do and then you can begin to see the Milky Way with your naked eyes. Again, with a long 20 second long exposure, the stars come out brighter than what you can see with your naked eyes, but it's still awesome to see. Some nights, like on this particular occasion, I'm out alone and have the beach all to myself. Yet, I don't feel alone at all. I'm usually pumped full of adrenaline (or maybe it's all that coffee I drink on road trip), excited, and really feel that I'm just there to capture the moment and the scenery that God has created before me. So, I do my best to capture it and create a work of art for other people who may not ever get to see something like this.

"God's Glory"

And, while I'm out creating artwork between 2am-5am, I like to create some panoramas. These panoramas can be printed very large and make some wonderful fine art pieces for any room...

"Driftwood Beach at Night Panorama"

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you've enjoyed my Milky Way photography!