#mount doom
Sometimes a gamble pays off.
I’ve been eyeing up this composition for a little over a year - not original, I know, but still a shot I’ve been wanting to take. Hard to argue with a Bortle 1 sky! Being a shift worker it can be tough to convince my regular shooting mates to head out on a “school night”, but because my luck is pretty rotten with lining up moonless nights with clear weather on my days off - it pays to take advantage when the stars literally align. The weathers been shit the past few days, but my weather app of choice was telling me there was a window, and I decided it was worth risking a drive for nothing. So here I found myself, on a Sunday night, by myself, stood about 50m into the Tongariro crossing, standing behind a tripod taking photos of the stars. Due to being a bit broken in my old age, this is as much of the Tongariro crossing I expect I’ll ever do, but at least I can say I’ve been on the trail
Keen Lord of the Rings fans will recognise Mt Doom on the left :)
Please consider signing up to Patreon, it’s where I share this stuff first and I’m happy to discuss locations a bit more freely along with the finer points of taking photos like this on that platform. There are downloadable wallpapers for lock screens, tutorials, tips and tricks and much more!
www.patreon.com/jtwilsonphotoworks
Of course Instagram is where this stuff gets posted 2nd.
Don’t forget YouTube! No timelapse shot at this location as I didn’t want to be there toooo long, but I’d love it if you subscribed to the channel!
Nicolas Cage as Gollum in the Return of the Cage
Endgame on the Mountain; art by Ted Nasmith
Again he lifted Frodo and drew his hands down to his own breast, letting his master’s legs dangle. Then he bowed his head and struggled off along the climbing road….Panting under his load Sam turned the bend; and even as he did so, out of the corner of his eye, he had a glimpse of something falling from the crag, like a small piece of black stone that had toppled off as he passed.
A sudden weight smote him and he crashed forward, tearing the backs of his hands that still clasped his master’s. Then he knew what had happened, for above him as he lay he heard a hated voice.
‘Wicked masster!’ it hissed. ‘Wicked masster cheats us; cheats Sméagol, gollum. He musstn’t go that way. He musstn’t hurt Preciouss. Give it to Sméagol, yess, give it to us! Give it to uss!’
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, “Mount Doom”
Post link
“ ‘til now, I always got by on my own.”
-Sauron
[ID: a photo of a digitally painted tarot card depicting Frodo standing on a cliff edge in Mount Doom, looking down. The pathway up is lined by 8 upright swords. The card border is made of vines, rings, and elvish writing, and is labeled: “VIII of Swords” /ID]
Lord of the Rings Tarot: VIII of Swords: Frodo is tested at Mount Doom
Another view of Mount Doom just beyond the incredible rock wall Gollum climbed down in The Two Towers. I actually climbed the lower part of the wall to get the Mount Doom shot I posted earlier.
Post link
Mount Doom, people. MOUNT DOOM. Actually, it looks kinda peaceful, now The One Ring has been destroyed.
Post link
“As I faced my own almost certain death I wondered, has he the ring? Has Sauron really got the ring?”
Frodo in the dark tower
