Sunrise, The Cosmic Ashtray Big Bend captured from front to back

captured from front to back to maintain clarity across the cactus pads

its three prominent points echoing the pattern below

Placement mattered

where the desert drops away into a narrow ribbon of water and vegetation below

Sunrise, The Cosmic Ashtray Big Bend captured from front to backCosmic Ashtray, Utah, United States This photograph was created at the Cosmic Ashtray in southern Utah after a full night spent photographing the Milky Way from the lowest point of the formation. The location is one of my favorite places in the world, not only to photograph, but simply to exist within. Its scale and structure feel completely out of place in the surrounding desert, rising abruptly from the landscape in a way that feels both massive and