In February of 2024, I went in for surgery. While I was recovering, I decided to take a look back at some of my older photos. Not only had technology improved to address noise in dark photos, but also, my skill set and knowledge had also grown.
So, I wanted to take a look at some of the astrophotography I had done when I first was getting into photography in Winnipeg.
I pulled up the old photos, and, at first, I started to just take them through the noise correction. The effect was amazing…but I didn’t love the photos anymore.
I remember the sense of accomplishment I had when I first got home and saw the shots. I was excited to see the Milky Way clear in the photos. I enjoyed playing with the colour and getting to explore how to develop a single shot starry sky shot.
But 4 years later, I thought the shots were dull.
So I spent a few days watching more YouTube videos and looking at other photographers to see what they did and how they made their sky stand out.
A big part of photography is sharing.
Sharing photos.
Sharing stories.
Sharing tips.
Sharing knowledge.
The hours of video I watched, and the images I saw that were online gave me a much better path forward to take what were ‘ok’ photos, and turn them into something much stronger and ones that I’m much prouder of.
By no means do I think they’re great.
They’re good, and I’m happy with them. But they’re not great.
But I see where I can get better. I can see how I need to be more organized for some of the shots, how I should frame things differently.
But I also see a part of my past where I was eager and excited to try out new things. To push my photography to something I had never done before. I had no idea what it was going to be like, and I loved it.
My brother particularly loves these shots. He’s asked me for some prints of them for his walls.
I don’t think there is a bigger compliment I’ve received than friends and family asking if they can have copies for themselves.
The night I took these photos, I remember the group of us setting up with all the bugs around. The jokes about bears and what we’d do. The group shot with our headlamps on. The giant spider web (and spider) we had to walk past each time we were going back to our cars or to the bathroom.
They are a part of these photos, and a story for another time…