This was taken in Hannibal, MO in a city park called “Lover’s Leap”. The park is a top a hill with a lovely view of the Mississippi River, the town of Hannibal, the I-70 bridge, and the distant lights of the more populated enclave of Quincy in Illinois.
I took my foreground shot at dusk in order to have a nice, exposed view of the river. I then waited till dark to start shooting the stars. I framed Polaris, the north star, to the center of my shot so that the final image would be a circular star trail, and I’m pretty happy with the results.
I made it almost to the two hour mark at midnight before a cop showed up looking for teenagers. Although it wasn’t posted, the park apparently closed at 10pm. The officer kindly let me finish a few more shots before making me leave.
I ultimately struggled a bit when deciding whether or not to keep the light trails from a boat that drifted down the river during my shoot in the final version of the photo. I think the image with the boat trail is better, but I decided to include both versions here.