That’s what this shot reminds me of every time I see it. I knew when I shot it that it would be one of my favourites. Every time I see this image it makes me excited to capture images of the milky way. It was stunningly clear skies and you even get a wee bit of airglow, that’s the green tinge along the horizon line seen in the sky. Bonus! Yes the meteorite! The colours usually tell the tale of the chemical composition of the rock hurtling towards earth, the most common metallic meteors are iron-nickel, so green is a common color.
It’s a great spot for late season Astro photography if you live in Auckland. It’s far enough away from the city lights and rugged enough not to have too many crowds. I’ve learnt the hard way here you gotta be prepared! Warm clothes and a hat are a must! The wind is nearly always onshore and funnels off the beach so it’s usually bitterly cold, even worse when you have to wade across a river to get here unless the tide is on your side. I really need to get back to this spot and further north. This late in the season you can usually capture the majority of the milky way in one shot. These are the nights I love. Alone under the stars contemplating the big questions (and sometimes the small ones too!). The night this was shot I was lucky enough to catch a meteor crashing to earth! Definitely a night to remember.
This was shot on the same night as the Hunua Falls walkway image. It was an epic mission to get here after starting at Magazine Bay on the East Coast. It’s a decent amount of driving to do both of these spots in a night. I was about ready to pack up and go home, it was 3am perhaps that night and I thought “one more shot”. And what a shot! What made it so special was I had been using a timer remote and got to watch this with my eyes and my undivided attention. It’s was so bright it shocked me!
One of the last Astro missions I went on before the little guy was born. I remember it being freezing cold that night, onshore breeze as always but a decent hike to the south of the beach was in order. I knew the tide would be perfect for this spot and there’s s little overhang behind me and to the left you can shelter in away from the wind and sand whipping at you. I couldn’t believe how bright the milky way was this evening and a little bit of green airglow really made the cold all the more bearable.
I’m always thinking of new spots to try and this was definitely a big hike to get to! By hike I mean drive, a solid 2.5 hours from home. I hadn’t planned going this far but took a punt on trying it out. Not quite as bright as I would have liked the image but the foreground and being somewhere so different from my normal spits was exciting. I most definitely have a return visit planned next season to try to capture a better night sky. I love the red glow from some street lights and long haul trucks above the old gold mining ruins, adds a little extra something to the image even if it did ruin bits of the night sky clarity.
I thought of shooting here while staying on the island during Winter. I knew it was far enough away from the city lights that I wouldn’t have to deal with light pollution and far enough off the beaten track that I’d have it all to myself most likely. It was a bit cloudy that night but I quite like how it adds a bit more interest in the sky, picking my shots through the patches of clouds. Strange noises came from the fields I swung a flashlight around to be greeted with several sets of eyes glowing back at me! Startled, I realised it was a bunch of cows that had come to investigate this weirdo out in the middle of nowhere at 1am in the morning!
So many times I’ve been up here and yet I’d never thought to shoot this mountain. I say mountain but it’s actually part of the cliff to some degree here. An unreal spot and I’m looking forward to getting back here and exploring more. I used a torch here to help try to light the foreground to bring some detail back into the image.
This one is special to me because it happened to be captured while on holiday in Rarotonga! The two nights I went out shooting I had a friendly local dog hang out with me. He even came back to the hotel bungalow and stayed the night on the porch. Here you can see the glow from the resort lights shining onto the beach. A bit of a pity really but does provide light for the foreground, maybe next time I’ll be cheeky and ask if they can turn them off me?!
That peninsula on the left side is a very popular spot to fish from. It always makes me nervous at night when the surf is high and people fish from there. It’s rough and you don’t want to get swept in! I love the airglow in this image too, not the usual green! There are some street lights unfortunately at this spot but on this particular night they weren’t on. Sometimes it’s a little luck that makes an average photo a great one! Those street lights are the bane of Auckland night sky photographers!
I love large scale machinery, I love the night sky. Why not try to combine them? I’d been here before but never ventured this close. It was windy as usual and trying to find a spot the sand wouldn’t whip around was hard. Surprisingly the best spot also had this puddle there. It may not contain the milky way but I love the feel of this image all the same. Such a good little mission that night and it wasn’t the only image I captured then.
It’s creepy shooting here all alone in the dark. It’s the one place where I always feel uneasy, you can’t hear anything over the sound of the waterfall. It’s hard not to feel on edge loosing one of your senses, in this instance sound. What makes up for it is the overwhelming sense of sight! Always amazing skies here whenever I have visited. This is a shot looking over the bridge leading to the other side access to the waterfall. It’s a blend of two images. One shot for the sky and another shot to expose more of the foreground detail. Not the first visit here and certainly not the last!
This is one of those spots on the way to Tomorata Lakes I mentioned. Easy enough to get to and only a 45-minute drive from home. The trick here is finding a composition that hasn’t been done, almost impossible as it’s such a popular spot. I’ve taken to shooting this with a longer lens to give an enlarged view of the Milky Way core. The next bold step here is to get a polar tracker and start trying some stacked images for maximum detail. Stay tuned!
This one is on the East Coast from Auckland. A decent drive but you’ve got options here within a few minutes drive plus it’s not often you get good reflections due to wind rippling the surface. Another nice quiet spot that you can get all to yourself most times. You still get a wee bit of light pollution from Auckland city but not enough to ruin a good clear night! When you’ve had your fill of images here you can head to Te Arai beach where there is a great little mountain there to shoot as well as the coastline.
Another shot from the Christmas period up in Northland. This was taken from the cliffs just south of Elliot bay. There’s a cool little walk along the ridge line that leads out to the edge of the cliff which has great views but for this image I wanted to attempt a panorama and needed more foreground interest. I was quite surprised at how well this stitched together in photoshop! Not bad for a first attempt. On the night this was shot there was some faint green air glow in the sky which reminds me of all those nights spent staying up as a teenager watching the X-Files tv series. I’m looking forward to seeing the Milky Way over this part of the coast early next year.
Last Christmas we were up at the in-laws for a wee bit of R&R. The nights were clear and I couldn’t resist burning the midnight oil! Despite the milky way not being visible I still thoroughly enjoyed being out under the stars and in a new setting! So few lights or light pollution up here it’s on the list for next season. Elliot bay has a few local batches and it’s only around a 20 min drive from the house. A nice quiet beach with several different areas to shoot at. Here you can see both the large and small magellanic clouds (those patches that actually look like clouds!). A little bit if red airflow was present the night I shot this and can be seen on the horizon. Bring on the 2020 season and some clear skies!