Month Top:

Closed down at f/22 and opening the aperture for ten seconds, this picture of the fireworks resulted in July 2023.

Month bottom:

The Space Launch System.

Originally, I planned to capture this picture from a much closer location to SLS at liftoff. This shot, however, was my backup. Where and how I ended up capturing this shot was completely different than the original plan.

I have continued a series of capturing the business end of rockets with a clean background. Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Electron, Ariane 5, Antares, Alpha, you name it—I probably have a shot of it like this!

I captured this picture from a remote sound and time-activated camera placed nearly a mile away to the southeast of LC-39B and pointed up almost 40 degrees into the sky. At liftoff, SLS was not in an optimal orientation for capture. Only after about 15 seconds and having performed its roll program would it be oriented face-on and be able to be photographed in my signature, symmetric style. What resulted was exactly what I hoped for.

My primary photo (framed up on liftoff and not requiring this roll program) did not trigger properly (it started capturing just half a second too late) and missed the primary shot of this kind I went for.

This backup was what was left—the benefit of having backups!

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