Startrails and Human Journeys #2
Looking south from Caves Beach Jervis Bay. One of these “I don’t believe this” moments. One of the problems with Royal NP (where I shoot most of my photos) is that it’s under the flight path for Sydney airport which is a problem at night because I end up getting lots of distracting light trails from the planes (there is often no more than 90 seconds between one plane flying out of a frame and another flying in). Given it takes 10 minutes to start getting decent star trails you end up with 10 plane trails in the shot.
So me and my partner headed south to the almost equally gorgeous national park at Jervis Bay 2.5 hours south of Sydney. Whoopee I thought – no planes. And then, just as I pressed the shutter this tiny light plane flew into frame. My first reaction was #$Q #%$## what do you have to do to get away from aircraft and I nearly closed the shutter. But then I thought just leave it and take another shot after this one. So I left it and it turned out to be my favourite shot of the start trails I took that night. The white glow is the Milky Way and the orange glow is from a village on the other side of the bay.
Tv: 619secs
Av: f/3.5
ISO: 200
FL: 17MM
Canon 30D
Startrails and Human Journeys #2 belongs to the following groups:
Astronomy, Landscape Photography and Practising the Dark ArtsAvailable for sale as Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters
AllyL, 7 months ago
Lucky the Navy weren’t doing night flights LOL
I really like the reddish/pink – I think it adds in the same way the orange glow does.
Geoff Coleman, 7 months ago
Thanks Ally – lol at the time I wished they’d have shot the bloody thing down but I ended up liking its trajectory.
Trace Lowe, 7 months ago
Nice job!
Gregory Ewanowich, 7 months ago
Nice capture Geoff! With the silhouetted foreground and the glow in the distance it makes for a really interesting view.
Jeremy Harrington, 7 months ago
amazing image.. i really need to get my hands on a shutter cord with lock so i can give this ago one time..
John Segon-Fis..., 7 months ago
Brilliant Geoff.
Douzy, 7 months ago
Hehe I know you didn’t want the planes there but I like them! Like I said on your previous pic I like the man-nature bond it creates. The trajectory has quite a nice angle too, and the red adds interest. I also like the orange glow from the town.
dinghysailor1, 7 months ago
Beautiful – I’m feeling giddy…!
Antanas, 7 months ago
Great composition
Mary Lake, 7 months ago
This is awesome. I’ve been dying to try shots like this, now that it’s getting cold here, I may have to wait till the spring. Who know’s maybe I’ll bundle up one night and try it for some fun and excitement. Love this, thanks for sharing…. :-)
Monster, 7 months ago
Great shot! It inspires me to get out and do more now the long and cold nights of winter are here!
PigleT, 7 months ago
Interesting how the flashing red lights spread out – says a lot about the angle of incidence (bit like the Doppler effect, I guess).
Kasey Lilly, 7 months ago
hehehe man that’s a great story. great shot too. i love trying to get star trails. the only ones i’ve taken have been on film tho. i don’t have a scanner either.
you could say it’s a UFO! heh.
Matt White, 7 months ago
This is fantastic, Iooking forward to more of your shots
vonne, 6 months ago
This is cool. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow eh… Worked GREAT!
Jacqueline Rojo, 6 months ago
Geoff this is just incredible, what a surreal image, the star trails look unreal!!!! It reminds me of Star Wars LOL…oh master of the park, how the stars shine bright for you!