Night launch of space shuttle Endeavor, Tuesday March 11, 2008, 2:28AM.

Since NASA and other professionals are certainly going to provide much better video than I could ever hope to shoot, my goal was to create a record that is as close to the real experience of watching it. So, for example, the launch really, really is that bright (not bright like the sun, but bright), but it doesn't seem that way on TV because the camera autoexposes. And the sound on TV is always sync'd, unlike real life, where the audio is delayed by almost a minute from where I was. The visual of the launch is actually strangely silent and surreal.

This was shot with my tiny Sony HDR-SR7. Small lens, small light sensor = not good at night. The early shot of the shuttle pre-launch uses a special slow frame rate and more accurately represents how the shuttle looks to the naked eye. The spot lights are easily visible from maybe 30 miles away.