Starry Palm Baby Onesie

While camped in Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park, I traveled one day to shoot in Biscayne National Park, just south of Miami, Florida. On returning to my tent for the night just past 9 PM, I got out of my car to the delight of seeing the sky filled with stars. Also, there was virtually no light pollution, with the exception of small lights from campfires and those from a few trailers and campers. The starlit night was exquisite! It was a perfect night in January to set up my tripod in front of my tent and car to capture this beautiful spectacle.

Don Mercer is an author and freelance fine art photographer. Research for one book took him to the middle of Cambodia in 1999, as he was the first from among his wartime unit to return to that country. During the War in Southeast Asia - known to most as the Vietnam War, he flew over two hundred combat missions as an Air Force pilot in the Cessna O-2A. His combat assignment was as a Forward Air Controller, or FAC. The majority of his combat missions were flown in Cambodia at night. While in Southeast Asia in 1970-71, his interest in photography intensified with the purchase of his first two of numerous Nikon cameras. Black and white, as well as color, 35mm, and Super 8 movie films were used at the time. The transition to digital...