Category

Fine Art

Charity Supported

Shelter

Location

In my bedroom in Lydbury North, Shropshire, UK

Gear

Tripod, Olympus Em1mk3, 7-14 f2.8 pro, remote control

Description

Lockdown is such a strange concept, the idea that we are safer when secluded and apart. Home Suddenly echoes with historic associations of fortification, fortress and barricade. What I cannot yet fully understand despite so much tragedy alongside us, is that my creativity has suddenly flown free like a bird through a window. For my night work, I normally drive to a scenic spot, often with a friend. We set up, drink hot tea from flasks, watch a lovely sunset then get to work on the stars. But this pandemic has not taken the stars away. It’s strange that we had one of warmest and clearest of Aprils. There were limitations in place, but what if I could work with them and despite them?. But for this situation, I would never have thought of trying to shoot star trails through a window. The whole concept appears fraught with difficulty but I could visualise the outcome before I even tried to make it happen. I needed a perfect dark and clear night. So, in our loft bedroom, before going to sleep, I set up my camera, making sure that the window frame became the frame of the picture. I had no idea if any lens could shoot stars through double glazed glass, and there was also a crescent moon just out of sight. To capture star trails you need a lot of photos to show movement over time, in this case 480 thirty second exposures over 4 hours using Olympus Live Composite {each frame 30 seconds at F2.8 ISO 800 and a seperate single seperate shot for the window frame} , which does all the stacking in camera. I was so excited by the potential of the shot that I could hardly sleep and when I woke in the morning I absolutely knew I had failed to get the shot. The camera battery was dead but when I put in a new battery, the picture turned into a work of art on the back of my screen. Even the moon had made her entrance, shining in and lighting the bottom of the window frame. Here were the heavens beyond lockdown, here freedom, eternity, hope. If I could lift one heart out there in the darkness, then yes, there is still a role for art in this terrible time. There is something for me in this picture about the individual yearning for the expansive infinite where the individual stars merge together while we all have to remain separate.

Photographer

Andrew Fusek-Peters

Social Media

Instagram: @andrewfusekpeters

Twitter: @2peters

Facebook: Andrew Fusek Peters Photography

Website: www.andrewfusekpeters.com

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