Rick Taft

Jacob’s Ladder from Barcroft I traveled to the University of California’s Barcroft Field Station in August 2023 for three nights of astrophotography high in the White Mountains at an altitude of 12,500 ft. The first night was setup only, the second night was crystal clear but was a wash due to mechanical difficulties with my imaging telescope, and the third and last night was almost a wash due to a weather system that had moved in suddenly. While outside taking dark exposures on my DSLR, I noticed clouds forming in the distance and suddenly lightning lit up the scene in the direction of Las Vegas some 100+ miles away. I quickly set the DSLR up on a desktop tripod and took a series of images (24mm, f/4, iso6400, 30 sec.) and got lucky, my first ever lightning shot … Jacob’s Ladder!