I never ceased to marvel at the astounding beauty of the nature. Of all the wonders in the world, night sky intrigues me the most, for it obscures the path I walk on, yet it shows me the reason to do so. That’s life, isn’t it?
Stars and milky way have fascinated me since I gazed the sky the first time. As a child, I always fantasized about far away untouched lands, bright night skies and galaxies millions of light years away. The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart. Night skies, as dark and gloomy as they may sound, reminds me of the pleasing childhood routine to lie down on the roof and gaze the stars, slowly drifting in space at the peak of night until I fell asleep. The time when gadgets were less and skies used to be darker. I must say I found that curious child in me again in these cold dark winter nights.
While wandering in the cold dark is thrilling, captivating and enchanting, at the same time, it’s scary and dangerous if not careful especially in remote areas where one can’t leverage the benefits of technology. I firmly believe that life needs a sprinkle of adventure from time to time to break monotonous cycle.
It’s not easy to express what you witnessed in words when you get to set foot on the land where mountains wear a white cloak of ice, where winds whistle through ears tickling your senses and where milky way gazes at you in cold nights reminding you of the paradise you often dream of. My words just can’t do justice to the experience I had.
This blog post is about my realization that nothing is more wonderful and mysterious than the stars taking birth in deep space and their puzzling activities. It’s a fantasy in reality. I share my experience, my photography work in Astroscapes & Dreamscapes and the feeling to relive my childhood days, when anything was possible and noone dared to question my sanity.
I don’t recall meeting anyone so far who is not fascinated by gazing at the night sky. There is something hypnotic in the billion years old objects that are light years away, yet they seem so close. Dark is intimidating and at the same time intoxicating. When there is obscurity, mind wanders.
A picture reflects photographer’s mood. At times, it’s gloomy and dark. While sometimes, it’s vibrant and colourful. The photography work resonates a lot with fundamentals of music composition. You take a sad song composed in minor scale, shift the scale and play it in major, the song becomes happy. That’s the beauty of an art. Like every other art, an artist in photography, chooses his own style.
As for me, I like to sprinkle my pictures with dark and gloomy mood for it puzzles the mind and forces it to think.
Enough said! Please allow me to talk about photography work.
Technique
Most of my pictures are single shot unless otherwise mentioned. To have a perfect balance in lighting between foreground and background, I, oftentimes take multiple shots and blend them in Photoshop.
Places visited
Spiti Valley and Iceland
Astroscapes
Single shot, f2.8, 30s, ISO 3200
Location: Langza village, Spiti Valley, India
Composite, f2.8, 30s, ISO 3200 (background)
Location: Kaza (foreground) and Kiber (background), Spiti Valley
Single, f2.8, 30s, ISO 3200
Location: Chadertal lake, Spiti Valley
Single shot, f2.8, 30s, ISO 3200
Location: Langza village, Spiti Valley
Exposure Blend
Location: Chadertal lake, Spiti Valley
Composite
Location: Kiber, Spiti Valley
Single, f2.8, 30s, ISO 3200
Location: Langza village, Spiti Valley
Single
Location: Chadertal lake, Spiti Valley
Composite of Godafoss waterfall from Iceland and Milkyway from Spiti Valley
Composite of Bruarfoss waterfall from Iceland and Milkyway from Spiti Valley
In the next part, I would pen about my work in Aurora Borealis and Dreamscapes. Stay tuned 🙂
Meanwhile, read my Iceland story here:
Copyright © 2018, Aashish Barnwal, All rights reserved.