“Born too early”

This shot was taken was one I didn’t believe was possible at the current time. It was taken mid-October, which I thought was well after Milky Way season; however, sitting out on the porch, I saw what looked to be a faint cloud and checked my star tracking app, and sure enough, it was the Milky Way. I've been wanting to shoot the Milky Way for years at this location, but the weather has never lined up well enough to work out. I quickly grabbed my camera and asked my friend to pose. We tried out many different combinations of poses and compositions, but after some time, we found a candle lantern for him to pose with and a bucket for him to stand on with the camera at a very low angle. This ended up winning 1st place in the ATPI Fall Contest Nature category.