RedemptionOn May 18, 1980, Mt St Helens erupted with unfathomable power. A massive landslide caused Spirit Lake, lower right of this image, to rise 200 ft, and the blast from the explosion scoured land for miles. Windy Ridge, where this photo was taken, is barren; scraped clean. Vegetation is slowly returning around the volcano, but the evidence of the raw power of that eruption is plain to see.
This image is the result of planning, sleep deprivation, a bit of luck, and good equipment. I expected that the Milky Way would align with the crater at 12:30am. Turns out, it was closer to 1am, but I was pleased that I got the image I envisioned.

The sky is a vertical panorama, stitched together from 4 images, 20 second exposure each. The foreground is a single exposure for 60 seconds. As I was taking these photos, I was cursing the light pollution from Portland, but seeing it now, I think it adds a nice element to the overall image. It does wash out the Milky Way at the horizon, but I think it nicely frames the volcano.