The neighborhood dogs are howling into the night, echoing each other without a pause, as I walk over the freshly cut grass of the lawn, past the paved road, and climb up the wooden steps to the treehouse. My husband and several of our friends are sitting on the pier, listening to island jams, sipping on beers, and nibbling on chips being passed around to share. I set my camera up on my mini tripod, attaching it to my massive Sigma 105mm f/1.4 fixed lens. I look down at my watch and it’s a little past 9pm. The moon would be rising soon. I rest the tripod on the thick teak wood rail of the treehouse and fiddle with the camera’s manual mode when I see a razor thin orange outline in the horizon. The moon slowly peeked out from the imaginary line in the sky and I snap away silently while the muffled conversation dims. Everyone gazed at this wondrous muted yellow orange orb grow bright and high in the sky, interrupted by the occasional cloud rolling through. The cool ocean breeze gives me goosebumps and I wrap my linen button-up a little tighter for warmth.
Going back through my photo archives from 2020, and can’t believe I forgot about these gems!
I snapped these photos of the night sky in Ofu-Olosega in September 2020 during my weeklong trip with Ian.
The weather fluctuated while we were there, so when it finally cleared up on this night, I asked Ian to take me to the beach and to the bridge to take photos. I wanted to practice my astrophotography on my Sony A7III and originally wanted to capture the Milky Way with one of the island’s iconic mountains to frame the shot, but our galaxy was tipped in another direction of the horizon so I couldn’t position the Milky Way and the mountain in a single shot. Still, I had to try to capture these enchanting diamonds of the sky. We didn’t stay out for very long because it was the night before I had to fly back to Tutuila and we wanted to wake up early for a last adventure, but after finagling with my camera and waiting for the shutter to sound off multiple times, I looked down at my brightly lit LCD screen and I couldn’t help but beam… I loved it! These shots were such a picture-perfect reminder of the magnificence and awe I feel every time I have the pleasure of staying in Manu’a.
Something so serene about lying in the dark looking up at nature’s night lights… A friend texted me early Wednesday evening to look out for a meteor shower that was peaking at 1am. It was only 8pm but we grabbed our big pillows and blankets and drove to our usual vista in Vaitogi. We laid in the back of the truck ready to behold the Geminids Meteor Shower. We didn’t stay out for long but for the 45 minutes we were out there we caught a glimpse of 4 shooting stars illuminating the starry sky.
