IT'S A COLD, CURIOUS UNIVERSE
Mauna Kea is said to be the tallest mountain in the world (33,000ft) if measured from its base at the ocean floor (Everest is 29,000ft). It is home to a science complex at the summit (13,796ft above sea level), hosting multiple observatories, if you are lucky enough to properly plan a trip to the very top. The sunrises and sunsets are reputed to be amazing to behold, yet due to the lack of oxygen, ones ability to enjoy the night with the naked eye is best experienced one mile lower, back at the visitor information station (9,200ft). The information station closes at 10pm each night, at which point the families and the tourists leave and the road that continues up is foreclosed to the public -- you are told it is in part due to the fact that there is no guard rail along much of the upper ascent. Standing alone, in increasingly chilly air, you do your best -- perhaps by filling your towel-wrapped water bottle with the free supply of tea-ready boiling water, and dropping it into your backpack, OVER which you replace your winter coat.
Carrying a digital single-lens reflex camera worth more than anything else you'd carried onto the plane, you are reluctant to place its chassis on the ground for the long exposures required to capture the view above. Proper focusing seems almost an impossibility, but you try and try again. Check the photo with one eye open so you don't kill your night vision; this shot was too dark (exposure too short), this one had streaks (exposure too long). Just for good measure, you program 10 second pauses before each shutter movement to ensure your equipment is as still as possible; everything should be at rest. With each shot, you stand by in the cold, walking several feet away now that you've noticed the wide angle lens has captured your impatient silhouette. With each stealthy return, you are grateful when it is your hand that first reaches your camera, not your foot.