My Project Proposal

For my Major Study Project, I propose to shoot images which show the massive expanse of the sky above the Earth.

What will the photographs feature?
Each photograph will feature the night sky on a clear night so that the stars can be seen above the foreground object, which will be a very prominent structure, either man-made or a natural landform. The foregorund object needs to be able to link to the stars above by almost pointing the viewer's eye up into the sky above, which will contain a beatiful vortex of swirling stars.

How will the photographs be shot?
I will shot the photos using my digital SLR camera and possibly a film based camera (more about this in the 'equipment' blog entry), with a remote shutter release which allows me to shoot the photo for an unlimited amount of time, giving me some amazing star trails above the foreground subject.

How many images are to be produced?
I will produce as many of these images I can, but unfortunately this technique's productivity is largely based on the quality of the evening I go out, if it is cloudy, I won't get any photographs, it's as simple as that. However, I can still use this time to perfect my locations and subjects which i want to photograph when the sky is clear, as it has to be clear several times between now and the end of this project.
As a number of images I expect to produce, I want to get around 2-4 images of a very high quality which will be good enough to present in the Summer Show in July 2009.

Why do I want to do this?
I ahve had a keen interest in astronomy since I was younger so this project gives me the chance to get out there and capture the night sky in a mysterious way. Star photography is very much a play with lighting as the stars act as little spots of light which rotate in to an amazing vortex effect if you stay on location for long enough. Many amateur photographers have had a go at this and clearly have improving skills as they have progressed, so I want to try my best to become skillful at this technique and eventually share my technique with other people too.