What happens when the universe leans in close?

Craters of the Moon is a landscape unlike any other—a vast expanse of lava fields and quiet stillness, shaped by fire and held by time. I arrived long after the sun had slipped away, the heat of the day still rising from the black rock beneath my feet. The scent of sage lingered in the warm summer air, and all around me, the silence was complete.

Capturing the Milky Way here demanded patience. Settings had to be dialed in with care. The night sky moves, the stars shift, and every moment is fleeting. But then it appeared—glowing like a celestial river above jagged stone, rising from the edge of the Earth and stretching across the heavens.

There was no noise. No crowd. Just light—pure, ancient, holy. I stood in awe beneath the galaxy’s arc, my heart stilled. My hope is that this image brings you into that hush, that wonder, that unshakable sense that you are standing beneath something infinite.