Generally speaking when shooting the milk way you want the moon to be completely absent, or set. For this photograph I decided against that! I shot during a quarter moon which neatly lit up the gorgeous wild flowers, helping contrasting the night sky, and light pollution (From Portland/Vancouver) on the top right of the image. I loved how the moon gave the flowers and mount st helens a ethereal feel. I tried to find the beauty in all of the destruction this volcano caused to its landscape. It is a very barren area, but there are copious amounts of life starting to emerge from the ashes.