Chris McCaw's scorched photography

CHRIS McCAW chalks it up to the effects of a late night in the wilderness topped off with a whiskey nightcap. While camping in Utah in 2003, he planned to make an all-night exposure of the night sky. Using a 7-by-17-inch homemade view camera, he hoped to capture Earth's rotation, tracing the path of the stars. The key was to close the shutter before sunrise. "Well, I woke up a little late," he admits. "The camera was positioned due east, focused on infinity."

May 25, 2008