Devils Corral Nightscape

by Mike Lee

Title

Devils Corral Nightscape

Artist

Mike Lee

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

This image captures the abandoned Devil's Corral Bridge and rebuilt railroad trestle over the Susan River very early on a March morning. The bridge, on the old Highway 36, was completed in 1923 at a cost of a whopping $40,000, and provided the final link in the highway between Susanville and Westwood (California, USA). Construction started on the modern bridge that replaced it in 1965 when this bridge was abandoned and it’s been crumbling ever since.

Many local folks will remember a time when the railroad trestle in the background was about half gone, leaving a bit of a "bridge to nowhere" for many years. It's now been rebuilt and integrated in to the Bizz Johnson Trail, a part of the Rails to Trails Conservancy where abandoned railroad grades serve as recreational trails.

I hope someone enjoys this image as it took significant effort to create. My initial plan was to let the 84% waxing moon do most of the lighting for me, let it set, then shoot the galactic core in the remaining half hour or so of "astro-darkness" before the morning twilight. However, once on site, I realized the moon was already a bit too low behind some high terrain to the west and probably not at a great angle anyway. Fortunately, I had time to implement Plan B and spent about an hour "light painting" the scene with my trusty flashlight. Numerous frames were captured without moving the camera position then digitally merged in post production to create the final image.

Uploaded

March 25th, 2021

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