I mentioned before, I take pride in being able to retrace my steps, even on trips long ago where I’ve never been before or since. But back when I added the Google Earth placemarks to many of the images in the photo gallery, one in particular was a little tricky: the time exposure on the side of the highway.
It was the night of a total lunar eclipse, and after totality had ended, I went out looking for some other night images to capture. My first time-exposure experiment to capture moving traffic came out far better than anticipated, introducing to me the idea that a full moon (quite bright, now that the Earth was out of the way) was sufficient to light up the landscape given enough time. I never took any notes, so I’ve had to piece it all together, but I’m fairly certain this was the eclipse of August 16-17, 1989 – the year, season, and time of eclipse seems right. And I had a rough memory of where I’d stopped alongside I-81, but had noted no landmarks other than what was captured in the image. I remembered the interstate being separated there, cut into a hillside which put the north- and south-bound lanes about 20 meters different in elevation, and that Syracuse was visible from my vantage though I was outside the city itself. I took my best guess on the location where the tripod had sat and created the placemark.
Just this evening, I was playing around again in Google Earth – this time, the Google Street View option was available, and I started cruising up I-81 to try and locate the position more accurately. Eventually, I pinned it down pretty tightly, based on the two yellow diamond signs visible in the image, and loaded the placemark with the intention of correcting it for this new perspective.
I didn’t have to – it was already right smack where I’d confirmed the shooting position when I’d added the placemarks in 2011. Feel free to check it yourself by clicking here to load the placemark (if you have Google Earth installed.) Not only that, but I think I’ve located just where we received the best directions I’ve ever been given in my life – I’ll have to check with my friend (and it bears noting that it was her camera I borrowed for this shot.)
It’s trivial, I know, but I love it when I can nail something this closely after 23 years. Age hasn’t addled the ol’ brain yet…
Yeah, yeah, that’s an opening for a cheap shot, I know…