Galactic50: Halfway Report3 min read time

When I started my journey to photograph the Milky Way in all 50 states, I knew it was going to be hard. The drives have been long and the pace I set for myself has been brutal, but all that being said I wouldn’t change anything. I have never been handed anything in my life and I knew this would be no different. When I started researching this project it amazed me that no one has ever attempted this before, well now I know why.

Weather, the Moon, late nights, and long drives have been wreaking havoc on my physical and mental state. But every time I show up to a new location, and get to see the Milky Way or the beauty of a state I would have never visited, my mood instantly gets uplifted. I remind myself of why I did this and how lucky I am to explore this amazing country one state at a time.

Currently, I am enjoying a week long stay at Zion National Park taking some time to recover as well as photographing this incredible place. However, the weather has not been on my side yet again. But cloudy and stormy weather may be bad for photographing the Milky Way, but it makes for some nice photos during the day and sunset, so I will take what I can get and enjoy my time in this amazing place. Thankfully, with the rain, has come a big break in the plus 100 degree days!

But enough about the negative, while I’m still learning a great deal about photographing the Milky Way, I have knocked some states off for my project and that makes me very happy. Ohio, Iowa, North Dakota, Oregon, Nevada,  and Indiana have all been completed. Utah, Idaho, and Colorado are up next before the Moon comes back on August 12th. At that point, I take another small break till August 20th, when I will be able to photograph the Milky Way through September 2, the next new moon!

I’m hoping, the weather on my return trip is better than when I left but as something I can’t control, I’m not concerning myself with it too much. South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Minnesota all targets for the return trip, so I’m excited to end on a high note.

So far the trip has been truly amazing. I have seen things I have always wanted to like, the Redwoods, Big Sur, Yosemite, Zion, the Great Lakes, and all though I just drove through, Death Valley. I even had some surprises like, The Badlands of South Dakota, The lakes of Minnesota, eh, and the amazing mountains of Montana. Seeing what I have seen, I can’t encourage all of you enough to get and see this amazing country we live in.

Thanks again to everyone who has been following me along this journey, its going to be a constant struggle against the elements but in the end it will all be worth it as I strive to be the first photographer to photograph the Milky Way in all 50 states of our United States of America.

Thoughts from the road:

Live for today, dream for tomorrow, learn from yesterday.

Photos from the road:

Here are some of my favorites from my journey so far.

Big Sur: 

Napa Valley: 

Zion 

What photo is your favorite? Check out the gallery here and comment below!