Ken Papaleo: X Marks the Shot: Geminid Meteor Shower, Mount Evans Area, Colorado.

"X Shot" information.

Camera - Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

ISO - 400

Shutter - 40 seconds.

F/stop - 3.2

Lens - 16/35 zoom.

NOTE - tripod and cable release used.

LOCATION.

1. Drive time from Denver, about one hour.

2. Take the Mount Evans exit off I-70, in Idaho Springs.

3. Echo Lake is at the entrance to Mount Evans.

CHALLENGE.

Watching the 9 pm news, I found out that the Geminid Meteor shower was happening that Night.

I had to find a location that would work for this shot real quick, a storm was moving in and soon would be covering the night sky.

SOLUTION.

I was on the road by 10 pm and was heading for Echo Lake, near Mount Evans, on Squaw Pass. Drive time would only be about half an hour. Arriving at the location, the sky was clear and full of stars but there was also a real strong wind. The wind gusts were strong enough to move my tripod! I parked my Jeep so it would block the wind, giving me a shield to do time exposures. Looking at the sky I could already tell this show would be better than the Leonid Meteor shower in November. But as always the

meteors came from all directions, so I had to pick what I wanted to be in the foreground. Mount Evans was my choice and I set up my rig, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF 16-35 mm zoom, a tripod and a cable release. The camera was pointed at the sky, with my lens set at 16mm length. By just putting a small amount of mountains in the foreground, I was able to get a lot of sky in the frame. Now it was just a matter of taking 45 second photos, for the next three hours, waiting for something to happen in front of my lens. I saw many meteors that night, some were where in the right place but many where elsewhere. If I changed my camera's direction, the foreground would be trees so I stayed the Mount Evans. Around 2 am the clouds moved in and shoot was over.

MORE PHOTS FROM THIS SHOOT.