#WOWWednesday

Photo By Paige Jones

Aurora Borealis

    October 10th, 2024, my mother woke me from a dead sleep. At first, I thought the house was on fire, or that the dogs had gotten out, but it was something else entirely. She told me that the Northern Lights would be visible. I didn't believe her. But I let her drag me out to the countryside with nothing more but my PJ's and a jacket. I hate admitting when my mother is right, but she was right.

    The sky had erupted into vivid shades of pinks, greens, and purples. I was amazed but also upset because I forgot to grab my camera. Like always my mother came to my rescue, using her phone to capture this rare event. The pictures are a little blurry and I am definitely not posed well, but watching my mother learn how to change her camera settings made the pictures 1000 times better. 

Photo By Paige Jones

    This week for WOWWednesday I encourage you to post a photo of something that made you go WOW! It doesn’t have to be some extraordinary astrological event; it could just be a cute picture of your kids. Or maybe your pet in a Halloween costume, or even just a flower that looked extra pretty today. Your photo doesn’t have to be perfect; it should just make you feel perfect. You can check out all of my starry night pictures on my Instagram! Make sure to use #WOWWednesday so I can admire all of your stunning pictures too!

How to capture Astrophotography?

Meme from Verbub

    Every stargazer has dealt with the dilemma of seeing a beautiful night sky and being unable to capture it. Astrophotography is no easy feat. There are countless memes online like the one featured here about the moon in real life verses in pictures. Christohpher O'Donnell created an amazing blog, Light Stalking, dedicated to these issues and how to solve them.
  
    In his blog post titled ‘How to Photograph Star Trails: The Ultimate Guide” O’Donnell goes into detail about the basics of star trails, the astrological science and strategies for how to capture the perfect picture. Some strategies he shares is 

• Image stacking

• Long exposure

• Time Lapse video

Image by InstaWalli on Pexels

    Another blogger from Light Stalking is Rob Wood, his post ‘21 Awesome Landscape Photographs for Some Inspiration’ helps lend a visual muse to landscape photography. In my opinion landscape photography and Astrophotography go hand in hand. If you want to get that perfect postable photo, try incorporating some type of interesting element to your photo. 

    A lot of Wood’s examples play with foreground and background like the one shown here. O’Donnell also suggests using things such as trees or highways to elevate what you're capturing. Some of his pictures could also make for great inspiration if you're struggling to find an interesting element. If you want to learn more about Astrophotography, check out the website Astronomy to learn more!

Photo by Ricardo Frantz 

Image by Evgeni Tcherkasski

The Only Bad Photo Is a Deleted One

    My photos are not as masterful as the ones shown above, but that doesn’t make them bad photos. A photo can be blurry and still capture the smile of its subject. A photo can be off balance and still capture the peacefulness of nature. You can have your thumb in the way and still catch a glimpse of the moment frozen in front of you. 

    I shamelessly posted all of my photos to Instagram, unedited and unfazed. Not a single part of me was worried about others judging my pictures because no matter how awful the pictures were, I still got to see the Aurora Borealis. And that fact alone created a judgment free space in my brain. 

    A picture doesn’t have to be perfect to represent perfection. I encourage all of my readers to not only post a photo that made you go WOW this week. But to also post photos that aren’t perfect, but still make you happy. When you stop worrying about how others will react to your photography, your photography will improve. As will your enjoyment! 

Photo By Paige Jones

Photo By Paige Jones