Shooting the Stars

There is no light pollution here in Bleecker.  We're miles from any good sized town or shopping mall. Even though I'm night blind, even I can see many stars here at night, especially now.  There's little humidity at this time of year and the nights are crisp and clear.

One of my hobbies is photography.  I tried to photograph the night sky with my prime lens, a 35mm - 55 mm, but its F stop only goes to 3.5.  Not wide enough.  So I ordered a 52 mm 1.8 Nikkor lens from Amazon.  Those of you who know me personally know that this was a huge purchase for me.  I have no problem dropping $15k on navigation instruments for the boat because its a necessity, but $150 for a camera lens is an extravagance.

Last night was our second anniversary.  Pam and I went out to dinner at our new favorite local restaurant, Dick and Peg's Northward Inn.  When we returned, it was pitch black outside and it was crystal clear.  I grabbed my camera with its new lens.  These are the first photos with it.

I used a technique called "light painting".  I used a shutter speed of five seconds to thirty seconds.  During that time that the shutter was open, I sometimes used a flashlight to "paint" the trees.

The cloudy area that you see is not clouds at all.  It is the Milky Way.

I'm very psyched to own this lens.  Besides night photography, I hope to use it for some macro (close up) and portrait photographs.  Hey, what's the point of living in Bleecker if you can't shoot grasshoppers and the stars?