Community Gallery: Star Trails on Film

In an interview a while ago with Jason de Freitas, the astrophotographer was quoted as saying: “It’s approximately 240 times easier to do astrophotography with a DSLR than it is with film, but if you have a passion for analogue photography then you’re going to want to do it anyway.”

Browsing through uploaded photos on the Lomography website, we occasionally come across brilliant star trail shots from community members. This gallery is dedicated to the community's inspiring cosmic images, and the hope that more of us capture the night sky analogue style!

Us human beings have long been fascinated by the sea of space above us. The curious creatures that we are, our admiration for these heavenly bodies have resulted in many wonderful artworks, written texts and music, and even sub-cultures dedicated to intuiting the universe's secrets through stars, planets and transits.

We can say this is our own way of contemplating and connecting with the vast unknown, that of the universe and of our own existence.

In his novel Stardust, author Neil Gaiman wrote: A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really..."Do the stars gaze back?" Now, that's a question.

Across many cultures and throughout the world's eras, the view above has allowed us to sail the seas and reach new continents, guide harvest seasons and more. We are deeply involved in its rhythm and movement.

We have also used these planetary objects to inspire our work – or make it our work. Such is the case, for example, for the man who became our inspiration behind Lomography's Nour Triplet V. 2.0/64 Bokeh Control Art Lens; the astronomer, mathematician and physicist Ibn al-Haytham, who helped unravel the mysteries of light, and discovered knowledge crucial to our understanding of cameras and photography.

As they don't come a dime a dozen, star trail photos are one of the most precious images we come across in the community (alongside, perhaps, cat photos, which we do see a bunch of!). Often times, reading about Lomographers' experience during the shoot inspires us too!

There's community member @natalie_93 tracking Jupiter's movement in Roses-Cadaqués, Spain. The large planet appears as a big reddish trail against the blue of the night sky. There's also community member @smolda who took the plunge and experimented with large format photography and the LomoChrome Purple, retelling her process in her uploaded photo:

I filled the filmholders with strips of both films. I had a little fail while developing when two halves of film stuck together. So I lost two halves of different frames. Never mind though. Overall it's a success and I love the results.

Taking into consideration the technicalities of choosing the subjects, camera and film fit to capture the sky at night, the location and weather, and the amount of time needed to get a good long exposure shot, astrophotography is no doubt one of the hardest forms of photography to do on film.

Still, this also makes it one of the most satisfying projects any film photographer can work on. This new year, we hope we inspired you to take more photos of something all of us Lomographers have in common – our view above!

Have you ever tried astrophotography or wanted to try it out? Tell us about your experience below!

written by sylvann on 2024-02-26 #people #places #gallery #star-trail #stars #community #astrophotography