The visit of aunt Cassiopeia

This picture completes the Gasset’s Reservoir triplet, being the other two A Factory of life and The loner. It’s ironic that the three best pictures I took in this reservoir are those in which the reservoir (or the water) don’t appear at all. Instead, a tree that happened to be there just by chance got all the focus.

This is one of those pictures that happened just by chance: I didn’t plan to take a picture of the tree, I just used what I had, as I explained in The loner. Also, the presence of the clouds near the horizon was seen at that moment as something bad, occluding the stars. At the end, the stars lost all the importance I wanted them to have, stolen by a tree who said nothing during all night.

In the center of the picture, Cassiopeia (not Momo’s turtle, but the constellation). With its characteristic W shape, it is very easy to locate on the sky, even in lit conditions. It can be used to locate two important object in the sky: the polar star and Andromeda’s galaxy. The first one always points to the north, and is the star around all other are turning. The second one is a galaxy that can be seen with a camera or binoculars (or with the bare eye, but only in really dark places). Although its size similar to 7 full moons, its low brightness is what makes it more difficult to spot. This galaxy is one of the objects I wanted to photograph, decently, this time, but I knew even before going there that it won’t be visible. Perhaps the next time I go out at night I will be able to try a new technique with it (meanwhile, I have a not so decent picture here).

Also, this picture takes part in the “Landscapes from La Mancha” set, a gallery I’m creating gathering pictures that depict the region where I live. The idea behind them is trying to transmit the mundane enchant of those places that many people visit every day without paying enough attention to. Perhaps in this picture the landscape is not the most important part, but I’m sure that many people forget to look up to the sky, taking advantage of how easy is to find a dark place around here.

P.S.: I like the detail of the electric tower and wires. It provides a little bit of contrast in the natural-industrial concept, and shows how difficult is to find a place were technology has not yet reached.