updatesfromspaceblog

[updatesfromspaceblog]

I’m John, I’ve spent the past five years travelling and documenting some of the darkest skies in the world. Five years worth of Nightscapes, video footage, and the stories that come with them. I figure that I’m not alone in feeling a bit trapped with this stay at home order and the general sense of  despair that comes with the Covid Shutdown- so I guess this is the best time to share all of the stories of places that I miss, in part to give myself something to look forward to, but also to entertain whoever is bored enough to dive into this long and strange story.

I’m going to do my best to make these stories connect, but they will be told out of order. Keep in mind that I am scatterbrained and prone to go off on distraction induced tangents. This is Updates from Space.

[updatesfromspaceblog]

“… I stood up, the ground was getting closer and closer to my face. I was falling forward face first directly into a pile of horse shit…”

Sheyenne National Grassland, April ‘17

 Found some long lost photos buried in my hard drive. I initially wrote off most of these photos as throwaways- partially because the trip was one giant sleep deprived disaster and in part because I didn’t think any of them were all that great. We had to cancel our trip out west because of “the virus”.  I’ve been feeling a bit trapped not being able to travel. These photos made me miss even my worst trips. Doing my best to keep in mind that I still have things to look forward to and these restrictions are temporary.

...

It was the third New Moon of the year, mid to late April if I remember correctly. I had just completed my first solo Backcountry trip in Badlands National Park and was feeling pretty confident in my camping/hiking/ star photo abilities. I set up camp behind a grass covered sand dune about three miles into Sheyenne National Grassland on the North Country Trail, the only drinkable water source in the area. I generally think of North Dakota as the land of flat nothingness as far as the eye can see, but this place feels a lot more like the set of a sci-fi horror film. Old aspen and birch tree stands, prairie chickens everywhere, country quiet, and rolling sand dunes blanketed in grass and wildflowers. If I could sum up the atmosphere of this place I would say it’s like if the Blair Witch Project was set on an abandoned planet.  As I was finishing setting my tent up, my "comfort knife" popped out of its sheath and punctured my sleeping pad. I didn't bring any patches, but this wasn't a huge issue- there was plenty of dead grass and soft sand , so I piled it up under the tent, threw a tarp over it and called it a bed. Camp was set. I went out and laid in the tall grass to read a book. About an hour went by. I stood up, but the ground was getting closer and closer to my face. I was falling forward face first directly into a pile of horse shit. Important detail- I had been sipping on some cheap whiskey, and had unwittingly managed to finish 3/4 of a 500ml bottle on an empty stomach.   I’m not even to the embarrassing part yet.  I ate dinner, sobered up,scouted my shot locations, and went to bed at 6pm. At some point in the night I dreamt that I was in a heated argument with Slender Man. I didn't feel terror, only frustration. I remember saying something to the extent of "I get that killing people is, like, your thing or whatever but you should really be more considerate of other people's feelings" Needless to say, Slender Man killed me. I woke up sweating, the sound of a group of coyotes yip howling not so far down river from my tent sent me into information overload mode. I started peeing. In my pants.  I rolled out of the tent as quick as I could, and there I was. Laying out under the stars with coyotes howling up a storm. A full grown adult. Peeing. In my big boy pants. I took the damn pants off and washed them as best as I could. They were soaked. It was about midnight, so I'm still on schedule for my shoot, but I am pant less and the temperature is hovering around 25 degrees. I took two sweaters, cut them up, and duct taped them together to create fully functional and super uncomfortable pants.   My shoot went on with quite a few problems, lens froze over, lost feeling in my hands for a bit, and got turned around in the woods. I called it a night at about 430am. I woke up that morning around 8 am, the first thing I saw was the pile of torn up sweaters and duct tape that used to be my pants. I walked up the sand dune to pee in nothing but a shirt and boots, it was about 20 degrees.  I stood there peeing, looking out over the prairie dunes and mooing cows, a truly country experience. As I turned back towards camp, I see a family bicycling down the trail dressed in their Sunday best. They were pretty far away but it was clear that they had seen me- a 6 foot tall pale bearded man wearing nothing but a shirt and boots in 30 degree weather on a Sunday morning…  I bowed my head in shame, and disappeared back behind my sand dune. I know somewhere in the small surrounding townships there are stories of the crazy hermit of the Grasslands. I truly hope it becomes a horror story passed around campfires for years to come. 

[updatesfromspaceblog]

Most of these were taken over the course of one year- October 2016-October 2017, 21,000 miles traveled, most of it alone. Locations: Northern Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Zion National Park, Northern Iceland, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.