Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2024 - 51

BY ERIC J. WALLACE I PHOTOS AND CAPTIONS BY DAVE GREEN
Photos
about " more
than just
the sky. "
Twist of Fate
A surprise temporary assignment ignited a West Virginia coal
miner's passion for photographing night skies and other wonders.
D
ave Green was born near
the New River Gorge in
Beckley, West Virginia, and
grew up exploring its abundant
wilderness areas. Most male family
members worked for coal mines and he
followed in their footsteps at age 21.
Green married,
fathered two children,
got promoted, was happy enough.
Then an interim position introduced
him to an unexpected passion.
" I was working as a mine rescue team
member and safety instructor (as I still
am), and when the staff videographer
quit and, for some reason, my boss tells
me to fill-in, " laughs Green, now 41.
" Well, at that point, I couldn't have told
you how to turn a digital camera on. "
But it was his job and Green took
it seriously. He read product manuals,
combed online forums, watched hours of
YouTube tutorials. Trial-and-error making
training and safety videos brought
steady improvement.
" I started out terrible, then sucked
less as time went on, " says Green. Still, it
didn't take long to " realize this was something
I really enjoyed. "
The epiphany led to post-work experiments
with new techniques-like hiking
with a shutterbug pal into the 17,371acre
Dolly Sods Wilderness to take timeelapsed
photos of the night sky. The trip
was novel, but capturing the smoky, galactic
swirl of fluorescent colors and constellations
moved him.
" It was nothing short of magical, "
says Green. " I felt like a kid looking up
at the stars, just overwhelmed with awe
and wonder. I was hooked immediately. "
Checking night sky maps revealed
West Virginia is home to the best and
most abundant
viewing opportunities
east of the Mississippi River. A rabLEFT:
I'd made every excuse in the world not to go out at 3 a.m., but all the ingredients for an epic
landscape photo from the bottom of Seneca Rocks were there: rocky peaks, the old homestead,
garden, and trees, the nebulous clouds aligning with it all.
ABOVE: Summit Lake is at 3,400' in elevation and the Cranberry Glades Wilderness surround it
to create a great place to shoot a springtime Milky Way panorama. North is to left, east at the
center and the southern sky is on the right.
bit hole of research brought theoretical
know-how and heaps of new gear-like
wide-angle lenses, star trackers and editing
software-that fueled a spiraling
obsession. Green began to keep track
of astrological events and weather patterns,
and plan weekends or vacation
days around photos. He'd pick a natural
area like Seneca Rocks, lug 50 pounds
of gear up a trail, set up at an overlook,
then snap photos through the night. Next
came weeks of editing them into a large,
composite image that showcases the startling
beauty of a wild landscape beneath
an incredulous blaze of stars.
" I realized pretty quickly my photos
were going to be about more than just
the sky, " says Green. He aims to capture
the experience of gazing up into the unfathomable
expanse of the cosmos from
a particular place-one that feels aweinspiring
in its own right.
Green's skill grew with practice. When
friends and family saw his work, they
urged him to share it online. A dedicated
website and social media pages launched
in 2020 to positive reception: Requests for
prints, portraits and special commissions
flooded in. So too invitations to show at
regional art galleries. But Green's favorite
accolade so far? NASA naming his composite
of Orion rising over Green Bank
Observatory its photo of the day.
" I feel incredibly grateful for these experiences
and to be able to share my love
for West Virginia's amazing nature areas
with others, " says Green. " To me, my
photos are a way of better appreciating
the world and my place in it, and I hope
that sense comes through to others. "
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 51

Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country Sept/Oct 2024