Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • W I N T E R 2 0 1 8 24 John quickly set up his camera with a wide-angle lens. e night was silent other than the occasional sound of trees exploding from extreme cold. He used rubber bands to hold chemical heat packs to the lens, plus heat packs in his socks, gloves, and every available pocket. Still, he had to run back to his truck every 15-20 minutes to thaw his frozen fingers enough to work the camera. e truck thermometer read -11 F. Comets are commonly too dim to see with the naked eye. Lovejoy's was barely visible. To photograph it, John used a very high ISO to make the camera ultra-sensitive to faint light, and shot two rows of four images, left to right (eight images total) over and over as the comet rose towards the top right. After returning home with thawed fingers, he had to stitch the eight images together into one panorama, which was its own computer challenge. e ISO setting also made the camera pick up some pinkish light pollution from the Canadian town of Cardston, some 48 miles away. e color adds to the image, and isn't visible to the naked eye. However, it soon will be if the growth of artificial light at night continues. To the northwest, the faint end of the Milky Way is visible over Stanton Mountain. e star low on the ho- rizon reflecting on the lake's surface is Vega, which used to be our pole star instead of Polaris. Vega will return to the pole position in the year 13,727 AD. e image of the sun setting behind Huckleberry fire look- out was made on New Years' Eve, is photo should have been a piece of cake compared to some of his adventures, as he only had to snowshoe in a couple of miles. It was a balmy 11F when he started; but he made a classic winter backcountry mistake. He got sweaty and removed his coat to air while stomping out a flat area for his tripod. He jumped back into his coat and broke out the chemical heat packs, but it was too late. He started to lose all feeling in his arms and legs. Icicles took root in his veins, forcing him to intermittently stop photographing for deep knee bends and jumping jacks to push back frostbite. e clouds were thin enough to let the sun shine through the layers. e foreground ridge was recently frosted by a low-hanging fog layer, trimming the trees with a beautiful white rime of ice. John used his orange, astronomers' solar filter to safely point telescopes at the sun, making the final image orange-colored and revealing two sunspots on either side of the sun. John's Spirit Above, Spirit Within represents a greater, unknow- able spirit that is beyond us which we can choose to ignore it, or carry it inside us, inside our homes, and acknowledge its presence without pretending that we understand it. e tipi is near the east The sun setting behind the Huckleberry fire lookout Time-lapse portrait of John in Glacier

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