11th Century Ruins - 21st Century Light
Flooded Out?
"Yes, the dirt access road was graded by San Juan County, and it's open now after the August floods. It's a bit washboardy, but I've seen big Class A RVs make it in here."
Pueblo Bonito - southeast view
The same 1,000-year rain event that washed away Death Valley roads in early August 2022 travelled east and closed dirt roads into Chaco Culture National Historical Park and its 1,000 year old Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) ruins. (It made me wonder if the Chacoan Anasazi ever had to deal with a similar rainfall event washing everything away.)
For a month, the nps.gov/chcu website had indicated no access to the park. I'd planned to take advantage of longer evening summer hours for some Milky Way ruins photography, and was very happy to hear from NPS rangers at Chaco that the road was open again.
1000 Year Old Ruins
Most people think of Pueblo Bonito when anyone mentions Anasazi Great House ruins. It's been extensively studied since the Hyde Exploration Expedition started excavating it in 1896 with Richard Wetherill's help. From tree ring dating (dendrochronology), construction began around 828 CE. The last dated construction was around 1129, by which time Pueblo Bonito had become a 4-5 story D-shaped complex of 800 rooms covering 3 acres. The D 'opens' to the south, with what remains of its curved back wall butting up against North Mesa.
Not all of Pueblo Bonito is still there, but the southern room complex and south-facing boundary wall still stand. That wall lines up within 1 degree of the true east-west meridian. You can also make out some of the original D-shape at the east wall that curves back towards North Mesa. Much of Chaco's second-largest Great House, Chetro Ketl, is also still standing.
I've been coming to Chaco since 1994. The peaceful location at the end of a 13 mile dirt road, striking stone ruins built entirely by hand, and the sheer number and scale of the sites kept me coming back.
Twin Angels outlier ruin north of Chaco Canyon
I've been so fascinated that I have an entire shelf of books on Chacoan archaeology and culture. I've photographed the main Canyon complex of 13 Great House ruins, plus remote outliers at Twin Angels, Salmon Ruin, Aztec Ruins and Chimney Rock on several occasions. The first time I was at Twin Angels, I decided to use a warm-filtered flash to light the place as it might have looked with a campfire. I took a similar approach with the interior of Gila Cliff Dwellings' Lower Scorpion Ruin. That was the start of my light painting adventures.
But I wanted to take a more creative approach. Chacoan ruins have always had their own magic for me. To accent that magic, I decided to couple the rising Milky Way with lit ruin walls.
Lower Scorpion ruin, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, New Mexico
Summer Hours for Chaco and the Milky Way Core
I've been to Chaco mainly in winter, when the ruins and access road close at 5pm. This was when the sun usually set, and when I'd have to start driving out towards lodging in Farmington. There were at least a couple times when I was chased out by enforcement rangers after photographing moonrise through a ruin window after sunset.
Kin Kletso and moon, Chyaco Canyon, December 26, 2003
But between May and October, the National Park Service opens the loop road and some ruins until 9pm. In early to mid-summer, the sun sets too late to make use of the longer hours.
In September, though, this gives you maybe 30-40 minutes to set up and shoot after full dark and before the rangers want you to leave. The need to pick moonless evenings to see the Milky Way and local dates and times for best Milky Way visibility narrow down your available dates. The lack of moonlight requires either some shadow fill lighting when you shoot, or some post-processing afterwords. You also need cloudless skies, so storm-free weather is a must. Long-term forecasts indicated a two-night clear sky run for September 17-18 before storms moved in, so that's when I planned to shoot.
The short amount of available time meant one or two compositions and light setups per evening. I'd thought about the Milky Way rising out of a Great Kiva, and above lit ruin walls. Staying at Chaco's Gallo Campground meant not having to drive back to a hotel room 2-3 hours away every night, and staying much more relaxed.
We scouted out ruin locations each day before shooting. I decided on Pueblo Bonito for the first night. I knew the Milky Way would rise as a dense vertical river of stars to the southwest, but didn't check exactly where relative to any ruins. Still, I knew I'd be shooting from northern parts of ruins to get it rising above them, with South and West Mesas in the background. I looked for nicely-shaped doorways and windows to light, and thought about vertical walls next to the Milky Way as I walked through Pueblo Bonito.
Sunstar at Pueblo Bomito
I ended my scouting with shots of sunstars diffracted past stone walls, and went back to our RV for dinner with my wife. We were parked in the Pueblo Bonito lot, so the pueblo was a short walk away.
Digression - Equipment
I successfully resisted my kitchen sink impulse and brought just two camera systems. Due to ongoing back problems, I can no longer carry the heavy full-frame autofocus gear I used to schlep. Instead, I brought OM System's newest OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera and my favorite pair of wide angle lenses for night sky shooting. It turned out I used only one lens for everything, a Leica DG Summilux 9mm f/1.7 ASPH. This lens gave me a 100 degree (diagonal) field of view and a sufficiently-large maximum aperture to capture streakless stars at a more reasonable (and lower-noise) ISO 3200. It also allowed use of the camera's Starry Sky AF feature for focusing, something I couldn't get with the manual focus Laowa 7.5mm f/2 AE lens.
The OM-1 has a dedicated hardware wireless remote. Once it pairs with the camera, the remote stays paired until you turn it off, unlike bluetooth pairing with a cell phone, which goes away if you don't keep using it.
Since I've been using Leica's M-cameras and lenses since 1969 and love their optical quality, I also brought a 41MP M10-R and Leica's ultra-wide 16-18-21mm f/4 Tri-Elmar-M ASPH. For slightly less coverage and wider aperture I brought a Voigtlander 28mm f/2 Ultron Vintage Type II VM. (Try saying those lens names in one breath.) And I packed a slip-on accessory EVF for eye-level mirrorless viewing of the picture area. I could focus with either the EVF or the camera's rangefinder system, a more precise way of focusing wide-angle lenses.
I've been using an ultra-light Gitzo GT1545T tripod with RRS BH-30 ballhead for most night shooting. I also packed a Manfrotto 156BLB lightstand, which would turn out to be useless. I brought a Luxli Viola 2 LED panel light to mount on the lightstand, but later discovered I didn't bring the right stand adapter, so I couldn't mount it. Fortunately, I also packed a couple RGB Critter flashlights with their 39 selectable colors and a Lumi Saber accessory, both from Ants on a Melon. The Lumi Saber screws into the front of the RGB Critter, and gives you a 2-foot patterned wand to light with.
I've been spinning light orbs with Denis Smith's Ball of Light Tool, an interchangeable small ball of LEDs at the end of a BNC cable that connects to a little control box. I refer to the resulting light orbs as my aliens. I brought along two LED balls with slightly different colors to spin.
I packed the OM-1, 7.5mm and 9mm lenses, all lighting, tripod/head and lightstand into a 2.6 pound Mindshift Photocross Backpack 13. My total load was less than 7 pounds.
Pueblo Bonito by Milky Way
The sun set around 7:15pm on September 17. I arrived back at Pueblo Bonito about quarter to 8, and spun a light orb in front of the east wall. To do this right requires at least a 30 second exposure as you shuffle in slow circles around a central point and spin the tool. I was a little out of practice, so I ended up with a slightly lopsided orb.
Light orb and Pueblo Bonito
As it became darker, I discovered I couldn't mount my Luxli Viola 2 LED panel to the light stand I brought. After trying a few shots with my wife as a human light stand, I gave up and moved to get the Milky Way rising out of a shadowed wall. Then I moved inside for a Milky Way - parallel wall shot. The specifically-lit window / wall shots were dissatisfying, but when a passing car's headlights lit the vertical wall section, it gave a much better capture. There were also a couple good ones with wall silhouettes and no lighting.
Pueblo Bonito wall and Milky Way
Window on the night sky
I moved on to Pueblo Bonito's Great Kiva. But it was 8:40, and I knew I had to get out soon since the enforcement ranger would start clearing everyone out at 8:45. I placed lights and took some quick pictures, but knew I hadn't gotten what I wanted.
RVing with the alien under the Milky Way
I had clear skies after our 9 o’clock return to Gallo Campground, so I spun another light orb by our RV.
Take Two - Chetro Ketl
I hadn't been sure which ruin to pick for our second night. We scouted both Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Del Arroyo. As Pueblo Del Arroyo would close at 5pm, Chetro Ketl was the only choice.
Pueblo del Arroyo
Built between 850 and 1117 CE, Chetro Ketl had around 400 rooms in a 4-story complex covering over 3 acres. There was an unusual colonnade wall with stone columns that opened onto the main plaza. Colonnades are relatively common in Mexican and South American ruins, and very rare here. But the openings were bricked up to enclose stone rooms at some point. What you see today is a roughly D-shaped pueblo whose flat east-west side faces north.
Chetro Ketl Great Kiva
After exploring during the day, my plan was to shoot from inside the east room block, then capture the Milky Way rising above the Great Kiva in the plaza. Clouds had been moving in all day, but I hoped for a break to the south where the Milky Way would rise. No matter what happened, I still planned to light and photograph interior rooms.
Load Up - But Remember The Essentials
After another great dinner of bratwurst burritos with pulled pork (thanks to my Ms G), I was a little later than I wanted. I quickly loaded up the pack and walked the 100 yard trail to Chetro Ketl - only to discover I'd left the tripod at the RV. I got a lot of steps in that evening quickly retrieving it and returning to the ruin.
Chetro Ketl after hours
By now it was 8:15. I lit the interior room I planned to shoot with one light behind a window, and another placed out of sight around a wall edge to the right. I decided to use the Lumi Saber to paint the left wall. I chose orange-red colors to mimic naturally-occurring firelight, and set up the camera for the shot.
Chetro Ketl Great Kiva and Milky Way
I got my wish for a mostly-clear view of the southern sky. After a few exposures in changing light inside facing west, I set up a second shot on the plaza with a lit window and southwest view of the Milky Way. But I didn't like the way it looked, and quickly moved to the Great Kiva. I only had time to set up the camera and prepare the Lumi Saber, then take a couple shots with crude light strokes on the Kiva.
Things look different at night, so I had a little trouble finding my way out of the Ruin and back down the trail.
Portal to the Milky Way
Light Circles in the Night
I wanted to do some painting with the Lumi Saber, creating light patterns as the primary subject. Back at Gallo Campground, I still had a mostly clear view of the Milky Way. So I set everything up, and decided to sweep light circles around myself as I faced it. What I got was a light portal to the Milky Way, with me about to walk through. It reminded me of an old TV series from the 1960s, The Time Tunnel.
Pleasant Surprises and Minimal Treatment in Post
I had some inkling of what I'd gotten from the camera LCD. But on the big screen at home, I discovered I'd done a good job with the headlight-painted wall and Milky Way, star band rising over the kiva, and light-painted room. And I really liked the portal to the Milky Way. I used Lightroom Classic's Ai-driven Select Subject and Select Sky masking for precise digital editing. I cut back highlights and enhanced Clarity for light-painted subjects, then enhanced highlights, Dehaze and Clarity for the sky to make the Milky Way pop. I left white balance at its auto settings for all shots - around 5500 degrees K and +5 (magenta) tint. This is approximately daylight white balance, and looked natural with the night sky. Could I have done more? Yes, I could have processed the Milky Way for more bluish star colors. But I simply liked what I got.
I also used Luminar Ai to erase some guard ropes, and process out some flare in diffraction sunstar images. When lens flares are a rainbow-colored distraction, I remove them.
Shot Notes
With lenses I used, maximum shutter speed to avoid star trails was around 13 sec. (I use the NPF rule in the PhotoPills app to get the longest possible exposure for no star trails.)
When I wanted to shoot light-painted alien orbs I used 40 seconds and accepted some trailing of the first stars after sunset. For Lumi Saber circles, I again used 13 seconds and spun just fast and round enough to make complete circles around myself. In all cases, using either a shutter release delay or the remote let me get into position and start lighting or spinning. I didn't lightpaint the kiva for the entire exposure, starting it towards the end of the exposure and painting for 2 seconds or less. That worked well with the brightness of the RGB Critter and Lumi Saber.
The RGB Critter flashlight has a special features mode to dim its output. I haven't tried this yet. Even with version 2.0 of the flashlight's firmware, adjusting the modes and settings with the displayless three-button interface is a bit of a crapshoot. The display on the Luxli Viola 2 LED panel and its Bluetooth interface make it much easier to use. But they're different tools - the Viola 2 works well for stationary lighting from a stand or propped in a bush, and the RGB Critter and its attachments are better for lighting with a painting motion.
More Information
- Ants on a Melon (nd) RGB Critter 2.0. Retrieved from https://antsonamelon.com.
I use RGB Critter flashlights and their Lumi Saber, in addition to their light painting blades.
- Chaco Research Archive (nd) Tree-Ring Databases: Database of Chaco Canyon Great House specimens. Retrieved from http://www.chacoarchive.org/cra/chaco-resources/tree-ring-database/.
My original copy of the tree ring database for Chaco Great House specimens was an early one. I downloaded it 12 or more years ago, then added data from other published sources, and included outlier sites. While I believe the construction dates to be accurate from the original sources, a professional archaeologist would probably cringe at the way I use them.
- Denis Smith (nd) The Ball Of Light Tool. Retrieved from https://www.denissmith.com.au/the-ball-of-light-tool.
Please note that Denis is no longer making and offering his BOLT for sale. The website page has a video introducing you to the tool and showing how he uses it.
- Ferguson, W. (1986) Anasazi Ruins of the Southwest in Color. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press.
- Lekson, S.H. (1984) Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press.
- Lekson, S.H., ed (2007) The Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Salt Lake City, Utah: The University of Utah Press.
- McNitt, F. (1966) Richard Wetherill - Anasazi: Pioneer Explorer of Southwestern Ruins. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press.
- Reed, P.F., ed (2008) Chaco's Northern Prodigies: Salmon, Aztec, and the Ascendancy of the Middle San Juan Region after AD 1100. Salt Lake City, Utah: The University of Utah Press.
- Vivian, R.G. (2002) The Chaco Handbook: An Encyclopedic Guide. Salt Lake City, Utah: The University of Utah Press.
