Kapiti coast at night

A clear night

Wellington’s Carter Observatory is currently running a photography competition under the theme Light & Dark. I’ve been getting more interested in trying astro-photography over the last year and recently bought a new lens (a Samyang 14mm f2.8) that should help me better explore the night sky and last night was the first time I have managed to get out and put it to use.

Once Alayna was mostly settled I was allowed out of the house around 10pm so drove north on the Paekakariki Hill Road. My destination as the lookout on the Kapiti side of the hill which overlooks Paekakariki and in the distance Kapiti Island. It was a mostly clear night with little wind and the waning gibbous moon was rising into the sky. Because of the presence of a bright moon I wasn’t able to get the sky full of stars shots I was aiming for (the bright light reduces the visibility of distant points of light) so instead I just tried out a few different things and got to learn some more about the new lens.

Kapiti coast at nightPhoto by Brendon & Keryn

Looking northward over Paekakariki, Kapiti Island and Roumati/Paraparaumu.

Paekakariki Hill Road glowPhoto by Brendon & Keryn

Looking to the hills east of the viewpoint, timed to capture a car passing along the hill road

As Alayna and Keryn allow I’ll be heading out for more evening shots over the coming weeks, I just need a well positioned and timed coronal mass ejection to light up the south coast skies with the Aurora Australis now 🙂

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