This is something that I find really important and I am always experimenting with different types of photography. Astrophotography is one of them.
Always experimenting with photography
There is no easy way to put it, I do love experimenting. I suspect it has something to do with my ADHD. Yep, I get bored very quickly. It has been a major problem my whole life.
Several years ago my husband asked me what I wanted to do for a career. I really had no idea, but I knew it had to be something that changed constantly. If it didn’t I would get sick of it and hate it.
Art for me was always there. From the time I was a child, it has been my escape and my happy place. One thing that is good about it is that there is always something new to do.
Photography is pretty much the same, but one of the things that really keeps me going is the ability to experiment. That can be with different types of images, or it can be with gear. Those of you who have followed me for a while will know how much I like getting new gear and playing around with it.
Astrophotography
Astrophotography is one type I’ve loved experimenting with, but I often find my laziness lets me down with it. Going out late at night to do it can be so hard.
I like to go to sleep early and wake early. So staying out late is not something I necessarily enjoy. Then on top of that, I have to drive at least an hour away, well, that makes it an even later night.
A few years ago I did a lot of it, but in recent years not so much. However, when I was at mum’s I looked up the phases of the moon and realised I was there during a new moon. Perfect. Serendipitous, maybe. The place I wanted to go was a 2 minute drive away.
Getting out to do the milky way
So, I said to mum, let’s go out later and do the milky way. She said, mmmm. Then after dinner, she said nah. So there I sat in her loungeroom watching Midsomer Murders thinking to myself I should go. I knew the place I wanted to go and I could see that the milky way would low in the sky. On top of that, I wanted to try out the X-T3 and XF10-24mm for it.
I had to convince myself to just go. One thing I like about astro is that you don’t have to be out for long. Convincing myself not to be so lazy was the hardest part.
Yeah, I went. I set up Winston* and the camera to see what I could get. It took a few attempts. Plus learning some new things about the camera as well. I used the torch on my phone to light up the shearing shed which seemed to work okay.
You can see the results below. It is okay. Not bad for my first real attempt in a few years. I could have done better, but when I planned the trip up there I didn’t know I would be doing this.
Winston is my 3 Legged Thing Tripod. *
Beautiful – I heard that Canon may either have or are developing a camera specific for astrophotography. Maybe they’d let you try it out???
Thank you Nora, yeah, some of them do that, I think Nikon did as well. I don’t think I’m into Astro enough to worry about it.
Lovely shot. I agree, getting out is the hardest part, summer not so bad, winter really tough. One thing that does make it easier for me is that I don’t have to travel as far to get away from the light pollution.
The problem with summer is that you have to wait until it is really late to get out. Though I think the milky way is hard to see here in summer. I don’t know, I haven’t looked into it enough. It is good if you don’t have to travel far. One of the things like about doing it up at my mum’s, I can even get shots from the back door. Thank you Craig.
Wow! Good job, Winston|
Thank you, Winston did a splendid job.