Light Painting at BistiOuside of Farmington is the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, a 45,000 acre wilderness managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This wilderness is made up of hoodoos, rocks, petrified wood, and lots and lots of sand!  There are two trailheads, the Bisti Trail Head (where we went) and he De-Na-Zin trailhead, which is a little wilder than what I was looking for this trip.  It is open year-round, though if you’re looking to visit, its most comfortable to visit in spring and fall, as summer temps can get really hot and winter storms can make the roads impassible.
The reps from Sigma graciously let me borrow some amazing gear, a 1.4 14mm art lens and adapter, which I ended up purchasing at the end of the conference. 
When we arrived, several other photographers were wandering the area and deciding where to set up for a night of shooting. 
One of the presenters I follow (both literally and socially) took off to do a bit of figure light painting and I was welcomed to follow. Katrina Brown, (Instagram linked below) put on a fabulous star trail presentation and shared some of her work. She is an expert at creative light painting and I just love her style, and her bubbly, effusive attitude.  She was exceptionally welcoming and shared her talents with me and a handful of other photographers.  She had me get up on a rock, then use her light painting tools (think flashlights meet light bar) to help create a cool light painting portrait of me and of everyone in our small little conclave.  

We then joined the other group, where another artist was setting up to do some “light on a string” light painting.  We got some fun shots; I wasn’t expecting to get those and it’s an interesting art I’m willing to explore more.After I was done with the light painting, I repositioned my camera to get some sky shots, meanwhile, Ray had set up the D750 to capture star trails.  We left around 11, with two cards full of images, though I was still having intervalometer issues.