Landscape Photography

Title: Burning Bromo

Background Story:
I had this shot in my mind for years. Finally this year I made a trip to Java with my wife and a friend. I was super prepared and planned months ahead the exact day and time to shoot, so that the milky way is perfectly aligned to Mount Bromo. However, when we arrived in East Java everything went wrong in typical "Photographing the World" fashion:-) A long chain of hurdles unfolded:
1. A couple of days before we arrived a wedding couple caused a huge wildfire in that area (partly visible on the right side of the frame) playing around with flares. That resulted in the whole national park to close. No visitors were allowed.
2. However, on our last day we found out from some locals that there is actually one specific way to enter a lookout, which was however on the far other end of the national park, which meant 5 hours of driving instead of 15 min from where we were situated. We tried our luck and made our way to that spot with a local guide.
3. We hurried as it was already late afternoon and we still had to drive 5 hours. If all went well we would have arrived just in time for the milky way. However, on the way the breaks of our car overheated and forced us to stop for a while.
4. Later we also had to stop for our guide to have his evening prayer, which we of course respected. But inside me I saw the time ticking.
5. When we finally arrived at the lookout we realized that there was still a steep 30 min. hike in about 3,000 m height with heavy camera gear.
We rushed up the hill and I almost fainted (I think my wife threw up:-) But we made it just in time. We had exactly 10 min before the milky way moved behind clouds. It was a magical night and one adventure to remember.

Technical Specs:
Shot with my Nikon D800 on the 14-24m F2.8. It is a exposure blend of two exposures. One 20 sec. exposure at ISO 3,000 and F2.8 for the sky. And one 90 sec. exposure for the foreground at ISO 1,000 and F2.8.