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!! 🤣🤣

Oh yes. Now that’s awesome. The reflection is 👌 and I love the sky. Definitely a winner and worth the effort of iteration.

Thanks Geraint - appreciated. It’s hard - I think we’re all wracked with a completely self-induced (and unnecessary!) guilt when it’s clear and we don’t get out. Important to remember it’s meant to be a pleasure!! I enjoyed your printing video - learned some very useful tips to help with my home printing (which hitherto has been very hit and miss!).

Absolute legend, Lee - that’s fantastic!! Really well done. Great image and Timelapse. So chuffed for you. 👏👏👏

Yep that’s the one for me. Nice crop. 👍

I think you need to give the folk at Bamburgh a light painting lesson! Given how tough it is, I think you’ve done a great job. Nice sky and foreground, and when you zoom in on the castle it’s clear you’ve controlled things really well there too. It grows on me the more I look at it. 👍

Really appreciate that, Lee - thank you. It means a lot. I think Last Resting Place is my favourite too. Still can’t fathom how the boat managed to get there. I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere. Welcome to East Anglia!!

Superb image, Gerr!! Envious of how dark and star-studded the skies must have been! Also slightly amused by how long the 14 seconds of your selfie exposure must have felt as you stood there, precariously on that outcrop!!

Very nice, Paul. Bet it gets windy up on those fells! Leo’s always a cracker as a Sky subject. And nice to do a bit of Galaxy hunting.

Thanks Dave - I'd love to get to Kelling one of these years! Thanks Josef - I would like to have explored it properly during daylight first!

Over the bank holiday weekend I was feeling rather sombre, having learned on the Friday about the sudden passing of Alyn Wallace. I just wanted to be on my own under the stars. I had a few people message me to ask if I wanted to head out shooting on the Saturday night, when we were expecting some decent skies in part of East Anglia, but more than ever I needed the solitude so I politely declined (always feel bad about that, and I don't mean to be unsociable, but I don't think I would have been particularly entertaining company anyway). If you're one of those people - sorry. So a couple of hours before dusk I started the 2 hour drive up to the North Norfolk coast to Brancaster Staithe, the marshy harbour separated from the majestic Brancaster Beach by a complex web of tidal creeks, marshland topped with tufts of grass, and mudflats. I'd visited only very briefly at night before, to suss out the harbour area, but never been on the marshes, so some intense Google Earthing earlier in the day had indicated some potentially promising areas from which to shoot, albeit I wasn't entirely sure how the Spring tides would impact access. As with many of these coastal locations, I was accompanied through the night by the most amazing sounds of the wildlife - exotic sounding birds and, at one point, a sustained gurgling noise whose origin I couldn't fathom. Clouds came and went, but that didn't matter as I wasn't after any award-winning shots - I just wanted to be immersed under the heavens, taking it all in and allowing the previous day's news to slowly sink in. In the early hours of the morning I noticed some pinks on camera towards the north, and sure enough we had a brief aurora display, which I was able to timelapse; it looks like I missed the best of the display by 20 minutes or so, but I was pleased to have captured something at least. I'm amazed how many times I visit north Norfolk and end up with capturing a display - I think my hit rate for that is well over 50%! I began to head home at about 2am, through thick fog all the way. I was tired, yet completely restored. As always, I'm grateful for your comments and CC on the images, and if you fancy coming along for the adventure vicariously I made a video of the night, linked at the bottom. Clear skies! ✨Last Resting Place✨ 📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens and Skywatcher StarAdventurer tracker 🔧 Sky: 11x 120s exposures at ISO800 and f/4. Foreground: 2x 30s exposures at ISO1600 🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and blended in PhotoShop and Starnet++ ✨The Creek✨ 📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens 🔧 Sky: 54x20s exposures at ISO2000 and f/2.8. Foreground: 120s and 60s exposures at f/4 and ISO2000 🎞️Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and blended in Photoshop and Starnet ++ ✨Time and Tides✨ 📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens 🔧 Sky: 92x 18s exposures at ISO6400 and f/2.8. Foreground 2x 60s focus-stacked exposures at ISO 6400 and f/3.5 🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop and Starnet++ ✨Depth✨ 📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Sigma Art 24mm f/1.4 lens and Skywatcher StarAdventurer tracker 🔧 Sky: 11x 120s exposures at ISO800 and f/4. Foreground 1x 30s exposure at ISO 6400 and f/3.5 🎞️ Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited and assembled in Photoshop and Starnet++ ✨The Buoy and the Aurora✨ 📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens 🔧Single 20s exposure at ISO4000 and f/2.8 🎞️ Edited in PhotoShop ✨The Jetty and the Aurora✨ 📷 Canon 6D with Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens 🔧Single 6s exposure at ISO6400 and f/1.8 🎞️ Edited in PhotoShop