Earlier in the year I did a little self investing and I bought myself a star tracker. For anyone that doesn’t know what this does, it can cancel out the rotation of the Earth so that long exposure camera shots can be taken without getting streaky stars.
What it essentially does is rotate the camera very slowly, the same speed as the Earth rotates – so that’s one revolution every 24 hours. It’s a cool bit of kit with an in built camera so I can see what I can point it as closely as possible at the zero axis point. In the northern hemisphere this is nearly bang on with where Polaris (The north star) is but not quite.
Anyways – back to the night I’m talking about, it was clear and I had spent some time before working out how it works, charging it and generally preparing. I even had a separate SD card for storing the photo’s on. I was going to test this in the back garden which is pretty dark but not totally dark it has to be said. I mounted it on the tripod and then mounted the camera.
I then tried the camera. No power left.
At this point a string of expletives may have escaped me, but getting a hold of myself I could still do this and that 20 or 30 minutes of charge would get me something. Slapped the battery on charge! I looked outside, still clear.
A fraught 20 or 30 minutes passed and then I was ready to go. Got outside and bugger me the clouds had arrived. Another string of expletives may have escaped me. Again.
It was at this point that I realised a few things…
Firstly, the cosmos does it’s thing in it’s time and not mine.
Secondly, I need to be better prepared, allow more time to do this.
Thirdly, even if timing and preparation meet the British weather will always be there to ensure it humiliates me and I need to accept this.
Basically I can do everything right and still fail and there’s nothing wrong with that, it is what it is. Who said taking photo’s was easy?
I’m sorry, it’s me – I can’t help it. I’ve tried to keep the insanity from the door of this corner of the web but I can’t do it any longer. The world in which we live is wonderful, beautiful and terrible thing and yet there’s few – well quite a lot of people actually…
In this series of posts I’m going to look at the human perspective and ask questions like ‘What does it mean to be human?’ or ‘How can I be a better Human?’ with a little sprinkling of ‘How can I be more comfortable as a human?’In this mad world we’ve been enduring especially over the…
I’m sorry, it’s me – I can’t help it. I’ve tried to keep the insanity from the door of this corner of the web but I can’t do it any longer. The world in which we live is wonderful, beautiful and terrible thing and yet there’s few – well quite a lot of people actually…
My name is Simon I'm an engineer, creator, free thinker and occasionally writer. For far too long I had ideas and nowhere to put them for the world to see, that's why Planet Simon was created.
I'm an experimenter, explorer and fascinated by the world around me and the people in it. My exploration goes further than the known universe and expands out to universe's I've created in my mind and put onto the creative canvas.
I'm not the person I used to be and over time I have evolved and the blog is evolving with me. Whatever this blog is in the future it's a place where all are welcome and ideas can roam free to find their magical place in the universe.
I'm an experimenter, explorer and fascinated by the world around me and the people in it. My exploration goes further than the known universe and expands out to universe's I've created in my mind and put onto the creative canvas.
View all posts by Simon
7 thoughts on “Photography and a Lesson in Preparation”
lol love this post Si … nature will conspire against us 🙂
lol love this post Si … nature will conspire against us 🙂
LikeLike
I know it does… In more than one way. Even the Buzzards only come out to fly when I don’t have the camera. They bloody know lol
LikeLike
lol I’m sure they do it on purpose, flighty beggars!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure they do!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a learning experience to me. You’ll be better prepared for next time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope so! 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person