One night under the stars…
Neowise & Ballybunion
On the night of July 20th and the early morning of July 21st 2020 I spent a few hours under the stars on Ballybunion’s cliff-tops trying to photography the comet Neowise as it loomed high in the sky over Ballybunion’s most iconic locations.
Before you scroll on tap play on the beautiful track “The Night Window” from Thomas Newman’s awe-inspiring score for 1917. It makes for some lovely listening while standing under the stars & was the sound in my ears when shooting these.
Astrophotography isn’t something that I’ve dabbled in too much over the years. I’ve tried a few shots in the spur of the moment, but never set out with planning & intent.
Arriving to the castle green at around 11:30 I found myself straining my eyes to try and discern if the faint glow over the castle was Neowise - or if I just really needed to go for that eye test that’s been overdue for a few months now. I popped up my tripod and set to shooting, staring first at f/5.6, ISO 2000, and a 5 second shutter. The results were mediocre. And so began a series of trial & error to find what worked for the scene. After about 45 minutes I could tell from the back of the camera that I had the shot I wanted.
I loved every second of the process & that’s where the joy comes in. Natural mindfulness to make photos. You focus in on what’s in front of you and the rest of the world sort of drifts away — at least for me.
From there it was on to the cliff walk & the hunt for Neowise over the “Virgin’s Rock”.
Again, I took a great many shots that didn’t quite work. It’s surprisingly difficult to compose a shot when the scene in front of you is very very dark and you can scarcely make out what’s in the frame. A lot of the earlier shots from each shooting point were simply me shooting to ascertain what was and wasn’t in-frame. But again, I loved the process of it all.
Eventually I got the shot I wanted — Neowise high above the Virgin’s Rock.
Prints, prints, and more prints.
I’m delighted to be offering both of these images alongside a host of others in my print store now.
Thanks for following along on this today. Have a lovely week.
