Abby and I went up to Kansas to my parents’ place over the weekend for my Grandma’s 95th birthday party. I wanted to take advantage of the clear skies away from the big-city lights to try some astrophotography. I needed to find something interesting for the foreground of a star trails photo and the gas well on their back 40 seemed as good as anything. I’d already done a few similar shots in the past using hay bales, a nearby church and an old grain silo. I made this photo by combining 19 photos each with a four-minute exposure using a cheap intervalometer I got off eBay. I lit the pump with a blast from an external flash during one of the exposures.