MIDSUMMER NIGHTS

a portfolio by frank zullo

preceding panel: a bright meteor streaks past the constellation Orion during the annual Perseid meteor shower in early August. "Longer exposures that track with the stars make the landscape blur," says photographer Frank Zullo, "so I added the silhouetted view of the Santa Catalina Mountains later using a photographic compositing technique."

left: "I have wandered through the desert at night for many years," Zullo says, "and would regularly stop beneath a tall saguaro and look up at the stars." In this composite image, a Tonto National Forest saguaro points toward the constellations Auriga and Taurus.

above: stars make circular trails around the north celestial pole over Sedona's Chapel of the Holy Cross. "Often, when shooting night scenes, I'll set up a 'star trail' shot and let it go while I photograph other views with much shorter exposures," Zullo says. "This is one of the few subjects that's easier to shoot with film, rather than digitally."

below: the stars of the big dipper, also known as ursa major, frame a horizon of moonlit aspens at Lockett Meadow in northern Arizona. "this type of image is very easy to make with today's digital cameras," Zullo says.