Nightscapes

The great Kirkjufellsfoss, a mountain well-known to many photographers that sits in Grundarfjörður. Some would argue it’s the heart of Icelandic’s photographic opportunities, and something taken quite literally in this shot. You can see a break in the clouds over the peak that form the shape of a heart. The rich blue in the sky helps cast a vibrant centre piece to the otherwise brown and duller surroundings. The main road runs through the bottom third of the shot, but looks more like a river, than tarmac.

Here the photographer has prepared long before their shot by locating the southern pole and lining it up directly with the end of this tree included for foreground interest. The spinning star trails are just long enough to give the illusion that the tree is being sucked into a wormhole. Light pollution is usually best avoided, but its inclusion in the distance actually gives a well-needed splash of colour to this shot, proving you don’t always have to have deep, dark skies.

A meteoric star stack from the heavens. This shot must have taken some time in post processing, and it’s expertly executed. What we like the most is the shape of the stars as they twirl and seemingly fall down towards the windmill. The windmill, which is positioned centrally, forms the second half of the golden ratio which is portrayed by the twisting stars emanating from the top-left corner. This is what it looks like when science and art combine.

Antony Gormley’s statue situated here on Lundy is as mind-boggling as the light painting. Getting the entire statue lit evenly like this must have taken a lot of practice. Lighting the statue from the side gives the structure dimensionality and form. A low perspective from the Nikon makes it tower up above, and the exclusion of any reference points on land means it can dominate over the clear environment beneath it. The blurring movement of the puffy clouds draw from behind the statue and right overhead, dramatically emphasising the straight lines.