Roar of a rocket engine, click of a camera shutter — and a far-off photographer hopes for a great shot
LOS ANGELES - On an unusually clear fall afternoon at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, Calif., Matt Hartman lugged a tripod, camera and heavily modified plastic Home Depot bucket to the edge of a hill overlooking a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a launch pad.
The photographer stood up his tripod, mounted his camera on a small platform inside the horizontal orange bucket and, as a test, called out, "Fire." A moment later, a plexiglass door the size of a large deck of cards popped open at the base of the bucket, and there was a steady click, click, click of the camera.
A tiny $1 desktop computer fan mounted inside the bucket keeps the lens moisture-free as it shoots
