This was captured from about a quarter mile away from the pad, a distance so close it would have rattled me apart if I was there clicking the shutter. Thankfully, sound-activated triggers exist, and I was able to get my settings and focus right when I set up my camera 3 days prior. A bucket list shot for me, and I couldn't be happier. People are going to the moon!
I call this piece “The Rise of Humanity”, and feel it represents the amazing potential of the human race when we work together towards an impossible goal.
Some more details:
Shot at 225mm f/16 1/6400 iso 100 on an r5
Used a miops sound trigger to activate the shutter
DUDE! That is f***en gorgeous! I am curious, what were you camera settings for this?
Also 3 days earlier? What's that like accounting for weather, power, theft, etc. Like did you dial in your settings ahead of time and hope and pray you got it right? But still, the power
It really drives home the insane raw power of those boosters.
It’s still wild to me that there’s no finesse in us going to space. We don’t exploit some quirk of physics or some nifty engineering trick like we do once we’re in space. To get there it’s just a big fuck-off tank of high explosive, light that sucker off and claw our way kicking and screaming out of the gravity well.
![image showing [OC] On Wednesday I fulfilled my dream of capturing astronauts going to the moon from the launchpad](27a1acb4-dd27-5de8-bb23-aeb058cb1ce6.jpg)
ajamesmccarthy on April 4th, 2026 at 15:03 UTC »
This was captured from about a quarter mile away from the pad, a distance so close it would have rattled me apart if I was there clicking the shutter. Thankfully, sound-activated triggers exist, and I was able to get my settings and focus right when I set up my camera 3 days prior. A bucket list shot for me, and I couldn't be happier. People are going to the moon!
I call this piece “The Rise of Humanity”, and feel it represents the amazing potential of the human race when we work together towards an impossible goal.
Some more details:
Shot at 225mm f/16 1/6400 iso 100 on an r5
Used a miops sound trigger to activate the shutter
Here’s my website
Ange1ofD4rkness on April 4th, 2026 at 15:23 UTC »
DUDE! That is f***en gorgeous! I am curious, what were you camera settings for this?
Also 3 days earlier? What's that like accounting for weather, power, theft, etc. Like did you dial in your settings ahead of time and hope and pray you got it right? But still, the power
DMala on April 4th, 2026 at 15:36 UTC »
It really drives home the insane raw power of those boosters.
It’s still wild to me that there’s no finesse in us going to space. We don’t exploit some quirk of physics or some nifty engineering trick like we do once we’re in space. To get there it’s just a big fuck-off tank of high explosive, light that sucker off and claw our way kicking and screaming out of the gravity well.