FenlandPaul

Thank you - appreciated. I do love a good shed or barn in the foreground. Envious of those in the Yorkshire Dales or Lake District who have loads to choose from!!

Thanks Paul - really appreciate that. Incredible place.

Thanks Pete. Appreciated. I’m always amazed how many nooks and crannies there are around the Norfolk / Suffolk area - could spend almost a lifetime exploring and still find new areas!

I think that might be a challenge if I want to actually pay some bills!! 🤣 Thanks, Lee - it was a really enjoyable location to shoot at. Would love to go back.

Thanks Vic - appreciated. It's certainly a fascinating back story!

Definitely Michael - nice capture and always exciting to capture from locations that "shouldn't" capture the aurora! Last night's was captured in the Austrian Alps as well. My friend Jeroen had a great display form the Netherlands back in February last year:

In the middle of April, I had the amazing opportunity to join @Cjg guiding a small group of photographers for an overnight astrophotography experience on the unique landscape of Orford Ness. Orford Ness is a 10 mile long shingle spit, curving around the Suffolk coastline just south of Aldeburgh. Shortly before the First World War it was acquired by the UK military and, having served initially as an airfield, it was dedicated to the development of new defence technologies and rapidly became a closely guarded, secretive location shrouded in mystery. The hardware and techniques developed here shaped human history and were critical to the outcome of the Battle of Britain, among other turning points during Europe’s darkest hours. After the Second World War, the site was handed over to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, and so began the construction of some of the more enigmatic structures on the site – huge concrete edifices in which the components of Blue Danube, Britain’s first atomic bomb, were subjected to extreme vibration and pressure testing. These haunting buildings dominate the otherwise flat landscape, conjuring the sense of a post-apocalyptic dystopia. About 20 years ago, after military activities had been wound down, the site was handed over to the National Trust, who now act as its custodian. The site is being returned to nature, and is one of the world’s largest expanses of vegetated shingle, housing some of the world’s rarest flora and now home to an impressive seal colony. But the site remains very closely controlled, in part due to the fragile ecosystem that’s re-establishing itself and also due to the fact that the MOD believes it has only cleared about a third of the unexploded ordinance from the site since its use for military testing. So to have the opportunity to spend a whole night there, with a member of the National Trust on standby to keep us safe, really was something I couldn’t turn down. We were joined by around 10 photographers of varying experience and, whilst conditions weren’t ideal, we did have two to three hours of broken cloud and the occasional clear spell before thick cloud moved in shortly after 1am. Whilst I wasn’t able to take a lot of images, given the main purpose was to give some guidance to the others, I did manage to capture a few shots and I made a Nightscape Journal video of the whole experience as well. What I wouldn’t give to be able to spend a whole night exploring the site solo!! I hope you enjoy, and a big thank you to @Cjg for being such an excellent ambassador for this astronomy lark to the National Trust – without him this incredible experience simply wouldn’t have happened. ✨Trails at the Black Beacon✨ 📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 35mm f/1.4 lens 🔧 384x 10 second exposures at ISO3200 and f/2.8 🎞️ Edited in StarStax and PhotoShop ✨The Lost Lab✨ 📷Canon 6D with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 🔧Sky: 48x13s exposures at ISO1600 and f/2.8. Foreground: 1x120s at ISO1600 and f/6.3 🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and blended in Photoshop. ✨Black Swan✨ 📷Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 🔧Sky: 30x13s exposures at ISO3200 and f/2.8. 🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and blended in Photoshop. ✨Extraction✨ 📷Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 🔧Sky: 36x13s exposures at ISO1600 and f/2.8. Foreground: 1x120s at ISO1600 and f/5.6 🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and blended in Photoshop.

Completely agree with Dave - the best MW timelapses have some good cloud action in there too. These are great, Lee, and well done for getting up early to do them. 👏👏 Life has been more relaxed since I embraced a bit of cloud. Just don’t tell the deep sky imagers!!

What a great way to spend cloudy evenings! I like the reprocessed image a lot, Mike. I know people can be a bit marmite on star-reduced images but for areas like this I love it because I’ll just notice so much that’s hidden away when you’ve got all those distracting suns around! Very nice.

That’s super, Geraint - lovely editing and a nice composition. Really envious of those dark (and clear!) skies!!!

Thanks Ian. Hopefully this NLC season we get some opportunities!

A few months ago I had the slightly unhinged idea to create hyperlapses (moving timelapses) of the northern lights and night sky from a drone. I wanted to capture the majesty of the aurora above grand landscapes with sweeping parallax movements contributing to the sense of scale. Scanning the usual places on the internet, I'd not come across any examples of this sort of photography, which surprised me a little, and then excited me. It never really occurred to me there might have been good reasons why no-one had tried it! When we were last in the north of Norway in February, following quite a lot of trial and error in the UK, we gave it a go and, despite distinctly sub-optimal aurora conditions and only one clear night in our week-long stay, I think we managed to prove out the concept. I made a video of the whole shenanigans and I very much hope it'll be the first in a few as I try to move from this "beta" test to the vision I have in my mind's eye. I would be very interested - those of you that also have drones - whether you've tried anything similar at night? I'm particularly excited to try this with noctilucent clouds just round the corner - I think that would have a similar potential (with more moderate consequences if things go wrong!!). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video - something a bit different! Normal service will resume shortly... Paul. 😊

Absolutely love this, Paul. A stunning image. Those pillars just look so tall!!

Two of my favourite places in the world, so I’d be well up for that!!

He's on fire!!! 🔥 Great work, Lee. Fantastic to get two nights out of three. That's better than I did in Norway in February!! 🤣🤣