M57, The Ring Nebula

A reasonable city target. The ring nebula is bright.

This shot has a story behind it. I shot it last summer. It ended up being on the same roll as the aurora shots. I was so excited about seeing what I shot that I could not wait for my regular place to process the film. I took it to a one-hour place at a Target store. I talked directly to the person running the machine and gave verbal and written instructions not to throw away any negatives. Well guess what happened? When I looked at the prints at home I noticed that there were missing negatives. The prints looked like crap but I was not really expecting much. I just wanted the negatives so that I could pick out the good ones and have them reprinted at a place that knows my work. This shot was the only good one with a missing negative but all I have is a crummy print. So I scanned it and manipulated the image so that it looked halfway decent. I paid the price for my own impatience.