Have you ever seen the moment when the pitch-black night sky suddenly begins to glow like a sunrise?
On a remote island near the city where I live, there is a launch site for large rockets. When a rocket is launched from there at night, a glow like the sun appears on the horizon, and the light draws an arc as it climbs higher and higher into the sky. The glow of the rocket, which weighs more than 500 tons, as it flies to an altitude of 400 kilometers, is breathtaking, and I am always impressed every time I see it.

Photographing rockets at night is a one-shot deal, and you only get one chance a year or so. If the weather is bad, if the camera settings are wrong, or if the rocket is in trouble, the shot will not be successful. I think I was very lucky that I was able to clear all of these conditions and take this picture.