There’s a certain sense of solitude that one gets when out and about in the darkness, standing in total silence while staring up at the glittery skies above. When you live in a city plagued by artificial lights, you often forget that there are millions of other planets directly overhead, all helping to create one of natures most amazing backdrops.

Here I am, searching that backdrop.

With that philosophical moment over, it’s time to showcase another batch of my astrophotography from a trip to the mountains. For this particular excursion, I was shooting on a road that runs from the town of Himeville to the South Africa / Lesotho border post. It’s only one lane wide each way, and since the border post closes at 6pm (in winter), traffic during the evening is minimal. There are a couple of guest houses and accommodation options along the 10km stretch, but it’s rare to see cars on the road after…say 8pm. So, starting time of 8:30pm it is.

Additionally, we all know that ambient light is the nemesis of a good astrophoto, but it’s comforting to know that “civilisation” is nearby - especially when those strange noises emanating from the darkness start to play with your head a bit too much. Perhaps it’s just a Fear Of The Dark as time approaches 2 Minutes To Midnight?

You guessed it, I’m an Iron Maiden fan.

Right, let’s get down to business.

To provide a bit of foreground light, I usually do a quick light burst with my Yongnuo YN-360 light wand - the light travels way further than you’d think.

As you’re scrolling through this post, you’ll probably notice two recurring factors.

• I was standing in the middle of the road for nearly every photo. No traffic = lovely.
• The photos are all shot in portrait orientation. I decided to try and showcase more of the milky way, and shooting horizontal on my 24mm lens just didn’t cut it.

Still, I know that it’s more entertaining to look at photos instead of my words, so I’ll try keep the focus on the photos from here on, with a caption thrown in for good measure.

I especially like how the road arrow helped pull this one together, it’s almost pointing towards the direction of the milky way. Nothing better than some good leading lines to help bring a picture up.

While there is absolutely no part of the milky way visible in this one, the sheer amount of stars make up for it.

Stepping away from the beaten track and placing myself on the beaten path instead, this photo came out looking way more different than I expected. Obviously, it’s not possible to shoot the stars and immediate foreground in one exposure, so the end result looks a little blurred.

As you get closer back to the town of Himeville, the ambient light starts to make an appearance again. Sometimes, it works in your favor, as shown above.

Bonus photo from a different area

On a rare occasion, my Tokina 10-17mm fisheye gets called up for astro duty. Shooting with this on my full-frame Canon 6D provides a massive field of view, with this photo showcasing nearly an entire 180 degree overhead of the milky way. Neat.

And just like that, we’ve reached the end of another evenings photography expedition. I have a week booked away in the mountains again around the end of November, and I’m hoping to be out with my camera every night, capturing the skies above - provided there are no clouds. Stars during the night, and drone flights during the day… sounds like a good holiday to me.

Thanks for looking!

Equipment Setup

Camera	Canon 6D
Lenses	Rokinon 24mm f1.4 / Tokina 10-17mm fisheye
Additional	Manfrotto tripod / Yongnuo YN-360
Processing	Lightroom CC
Location	Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa

DISCLAIMER: All photos and writing are my own original work.