It took exactly six visits to get this photograph. I very nearly gave up after visit number five, but I’m so glad we tried just one more time.
The first couple of visits were much closer to where the river meanders back and forth before it meets the sea. We parked very close to where the lights can be seen in the distance and stumbled around in the dark trying to find the best view part way up a steep hill. The curves of the river certainly looked very impressive from our grassy perch, but I realised later that we weren’t facing in the right direction for the Milky Way. (This must have been before I started using PhotoPills).
The next trip was in daylight to scout out the location I found here and it seemed perfect. The trouble came when we visited at night and saw the red light from road works streaking across the valley floor. (They have been thinking about replacing the little bridge for several years now, but the can has been repeatedly kicked down the road. I actually started this plan over five years ago and the lights will be around for some time to come). That was trip four and I very nearly gave up.
Trip five was on 8th July this year, when I admitted defeat with the traffic lights, but had a cunning plan to shoot the foreground before it got too dark and the lights became a problem. I could then drive beyond the road works to photograph the Milky Way and combine them later in Photoshop. I would normally never do anything like this, but it seemed the only solution before I get too old for nocturnal wanderings.
In the end, the earlier images weren’t needed. The traffic lights had been moved and weren’t a problem, even by 11.15 p.m. which was when the galactic core had reached its yearly maximum. The lights may not have been a problem, but the humidity was and before I could take my final star images, the lens misted up. I had already been using a lens warmer and with nothing left to do, we gave up and drove home.
That should have been it, but two days later, the weather was still clear and so we made the long journey just one more time. It was a wonderful night and the memories will remain for a long time to come. Unusually, this was taken with my 16mm lens to allow plenty of room for a wider landscape.
