Summer Solstice

A very early (0230) alarm call with the family and off to Sussex to hopefully catch the Summer Solstice sunrise (due at 0449).
We chose Butser Hill, Hampshire, on the way down to a day on Wittering Beach.
The pre-sunrise glow gave us hope, but the forecast rain arrived spot on time and snuffed out what could have been a marvellous sunrise.
Still, the pre-sunrise shot is lovely and a great reminder of another special morning out with the family.
As for Wittering Beach- glorious as usual, until the hoards arrived.

Summer Solstice (Pre) Sunrise

West Wittering Beach before the crowds arrived (0800)

Noctilucent Clouds (NLC) over Surrey

The Summer night sky can be a bit frustrating in the UK. Clear nights are few and far between, there is no astronomical dark, as the nights are so short and for half the month, the moon knocks out any darkness that may be left.
So Milky Way shots are hard to come by and the Summer constellations aren't as interesting as the Winter ones.
One target I've been trying to capture for a couple of years is Noctilucent Clouds. They only appear in May/June and only between about 45 and 55 degrees Lattitude.
Even then, you never know where/when they will appear.
After a couple of nights of seeing everyone else's shots (from as far South as London and even Stonehenge), I headed out at 3am with my son to see if I could capture them over Surrey.
Here's the results... quite a nice display and much higher above the horizon than I was expecting...

What are Noctilucent Clouds?

Noctilucent Clouds over Surrey
From Curley Hill, Lightwater
Canon 77D, Canon 55mm kit lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4sec exposure

LOCKDOWN ride... Swinley re-opens

Swinley Forest re-opened yesterday for bike riding, so Liam & I headed out for a 5:30am ride to avoid the crowds.... Stunning!

Deja vu.. Another sunrise ride, this time with Liam

A ride out to Bagshot to see the Rhodedendrons at sunrise...

Another lovely sunrise bike ride

More early morning phone (Pixel 4) shots from my bike ride...

Sunrise over the ranges

Bike ride photography

Been getting out nice and early on the bike to avoid people and to get the sunrise (around 0545 at this time of year)

Inviting loamy singletrack

Sunrise over Surrey

Sunrise over Surrey

Spring morning at the Canal

View from Curley Hill, Lightwater

LOCKDOWN! More garden astro

After 2 weeks of moonlit skies, the moon has finally set for a couple of weeks and I'm into a run (hopefully) of clear skies around the Lyrid meteor shower.
These are from the early morning of 20th Aptil, with the peak due in a couple of days time.
Managed to capture 2 Lyrids between 1am and 3am and got a nice star trail from the back garden

A couple of cheeky Lyrid meteors from the back garden

Star trail from the garden (1am - 4am, 360 shots, F4.0 @30s ISO1600)

LOCKDOWN! And an increase in local night photography

Since early March 2020, we've been locked down in the UK, unable travel unless absolutely necessary. That's meant it's been impossible to escape the light polluted skies of Surrey.
And, as Sod's Law dictates, there has been night after night of clear skies through March and April.
I tried to capture the Milky Way over Surrey, but the light pollution is a killer.
Got a nice ISS shot, with it slicing past Venus and the Moon.
Also got a nice shot of the Pink Supermoon rising over Woking.
Opportunities are few and far between, but it's nice to be out on a warm(ish) clear night.

ISS arching over Lightwater, past the Moon and Venus

Just a hint of Milky Way over Woking's light pollution

Pink Supermoon rising over Woking's own rising towers

First Tracked Milky Way shots

A sudden, short break in the weather so I headed down to Selsey to grab some early season MW.
Alarm @ 0230, out the door by 0245. Arrived at 0350 (nice fast drive down!)
Got an hour of shooting, then left at 0515. Home for 0625 for the school run.
Sleep is for the weak!
Pretty clean view of the MW, but quite hazy along the horizon, so not massive detail in the MW. Very pleased with getting easy 3minutes exposures on the tracker. Seems so easy to setup.
Ran out of time to get proper foreground shots, so they are a bit noisy.
Looking forward to the rest of the MW season!

First attempt at Orion Nebula

Testing my new Sky Watcher Star Adventurer tracker in the garden last night as it was the only clear night duefor a week or so.
Pleased with this result, even though it was a bit rushed.
Really looking forward to getting some nice long tracked Milky Way shots in the coming weeks/months.

Astro kit goals....

Having decided I can't justify the outlay for a Sony A7iii (with all the required new lenses), I've been practicing some astro with my homemade barn-door tracker.
Not getting great results, mainly due to all the moving/wobbly parts. Seriously looking at the Star Adventurer Skywatcher Star Adventurer Tracker as a quick, cheap (under £300) upgrade.

[EDIT] 27th Feb.... Got the Star Adventurer and looking forward to using it.....

Bleak February

February in the UK has just been a succession of storms and wet, mild weather.
Very few sunrises, hardly any clear nights, no mist or fog. Just rain, rain, rain and wind.
Nearly made it down to the South Coast to capture some of the Storm Ciara or Storm Dennis action, but common sense prevented me from driving.

The only real shot from this month is a Pixel2 shot from a flight into Frankfurt.
Nice shot, but I'm missing the "proper" photography. Roll on Spring!

Thursley Common Recce

The Sunday morning forecast was for a bright, crisp, cold morning, so headed out with the family for an exploratory walk around the boardwalks on Thursley Common.
I've been wanting to explore here for a while and hope to return for some mist and possibly some astro.
We didn't quite get there in time for sunrise, but got some nice shots anyway. Hard work to balance the bright sun/sky, so most of these shots are HDR stacks.

Single shot of another photographer in the mist

HDR stack of 3x images

HDR stack of 3x images

HDR stack of 4x images