Photographer Captures the ‘Shot of His Dreams’
After spending all day skateboarding in the desert Sun, photographer Travis Burke was surprisingly stressed. Why? He had the shot of his dreams to capture.
Burke had been planning this picture for weeks. It was early December and the day of the supermoon. The photographer’s original plan had been scuppered by a “once in a century flood,” which destroyed the road to his favored location. He also had new camera equipment delayed in shipping. It meant that Burke had to find a new location with clear skies and the right topography.
“We ended up driving three hours into the desert and spending the day skating at the incredible Desert Skate Ranch in 110°F (43°C) heat,” Burke writes on his Instagram page. “All day, I felt the pressure, knowing that we only had one chance to capture the final image as the Sun went down.”
The Desert Skate Ranch is a remote facility way out in the Mojave Desert. In between shredding the bowl, Burke was checking the PhotoPills app to find the right alignment. When the supermoon was set to rise, his friend Sean Keany raced to the location.
“As Sean ran up the mountain, I raced into position almost a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, hoping that I had made all the correct calculations,” Burke says. “In those few brief seconds, when everything lined up perfectly, it truly felt like a dream come true! Huge thanks to Klara and Sean for helping to make this possible.”
The photo is reminiscent of the one astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy captured last month, showing a skydiver silhouetted in front of the Sun. McCarthy used his specialized astro cameras to capture something truly unique.
More of Burke’s work can be found on his website and Instagram.
Image credits: Photographs by Travis Burke.
