It’s April in the Mid-Atlantic, and Mike Clem steps onto the hallowed grounds of Antietam National Battlefield in Washington County, Maryland — home to the bloodiest single day in American history.
Spring has been slow to arrive, but under a clear sky on April 20, Clem is determined to carry out his mission. The Thurmont, Maryland, native pulls a lighter from his pocket and sparks up a well-crafted cannon.
“Zen 42,” Clem said. Accompanied by his girlfriend, Libby, the two prepare to photograph the night sky.
As remnants of smoke drift across the field, the stark backdrop of history mixed with Good Vibes Only Cannabis flower is not lost on the 48-year-old photographer.
“It just feels like we’re at a time in society where there is constant battle,” he said, pointing to political unrest, economic divides and personal struggles.
A patient care specialist for nearly a decade, Clem has found a home at KOAN Cannabis in Hagerstown, Maryland.
“I love what they’re about,” Clem said, whose Cannabis career has taken him from California to Pennsylvania and now to Maryland. “The name ‘Koan’ in Buddhism means the last step before enlightenment.”
Clem takes pride in providing 40 hours of medical care each week. Afterward, the budtender insists on escaping the yang of work life to find yin behind his Nikon Z6 II mirrorless camera. He has been photographing events, landscapes and people for more than 20 years, beginning with a cropped DSLR and a kit lens.
“I grew up in a family of Deadheads,” Clem said, referencing his parents’ love of the Grateful Dead. “So music and fan art were always around me.”
Drawing and painting didn’t come naturally to him, but he said he has a “knack for capturing moments with the camera,” first getting started through concert photography.
“When you’re shooting live music, there are moments you can capture — a deep guitar solo or a powerful vocal — and you can almost feel that image,” he said.
Since astrophotography can take upward of five hours, Clem often pairs his love of music with photography and Cannabis to reach a state of relaxation and unlock new levels of creativity.
“It’s such a simple way to have an enjoyable evening,” he said. “When it comes to music and the night sky, you can find your zen anywhere. That’s all you need. It’s so freeing.”
Clem chases shots of the Milky Way from February through October, when it is most visible in the Northern Hemisphere. During the winter months, his focus shifts to the Orion region.
“It isn’t as visibly astounding,” he said, “but it’s still quite a beauty to shoot.”
He also enjoys stacking time-lapse images of the night sky to create star trails.
Arriving during the “blue hour” — the 60 minutes after sunset when light still lingers across the sky — Clem fastens his camera to a tripod for steadiness and consistency before taking upward of 400 photos, which he later stacks using Adobe Photoshop or the free app Sequator.
“You get different effects depending on which direction you aim the camera,” Clem said. “I usually go north because people are more drawn to the circular trail look. It draws the eye into the frame in an almost hypnotic way. It’s like staring into a circular vortex.”
Clem hopes to pursue this passion for as long as he’s circling the sun. The good news? He said it’s a hobby anyone can start with just a couple hundred dollars.
“A good camera and a decent wide-angle lens — that’s all you really need,” he said. “And if you really want to get into it, there’s a lot of stuff on YouTube for astrophotography, especially star trails.”
To see more of Mike Clem’s photography, visit his Instagram page, @astrosdeadhead.
Astrophotographer in Action
“When I shoot the Milky Way, I try to get to the spot I’ve picked to shoot about an hour before the Milky Way core rises. Once it’s high enough over the horizon to start shooting, I usually take 10-20 shots. In post-processing, I stack (stacking helps reduce noise in the image) the images using free software, such as Sequator. Once the final stacked image is ready, you can edit to your preference in whichever photo editing software you prefer; I use Adobe Lightroom.”
