This Looks Hard, and It Is

A JOB OF THIS SIZE is all about confidence, really. It takes weeks to prepare for, and to think through. And it takes only a few short minutes to screw it up. And trust me, when you spend this much of National Geographic’s money on something, if you do, in fact, go off the rails, you will hear about it.

Having shot two major stories over the years for the yellow-border gang involving telescopes, I could reasonably put down on a resumé, “Good with large, strange-looking buildings on top of lonely, freezing-cold mountaintops.” Bit of a niche market, but with the photo biz being what it is nowadays, I’ll take it. And as far as the after-world goes, well, I’m sure to get to a higher place in heaven, ‘cause shooting telescopes has got to be pretty close to being in purgatory.