Desperately chasing NEOWISE!

Firstly, i regret to say NEOWISE is now almost indivisible to the naked eye. Tis but a smudge amongst the stars. Expectations were it would resemble my first sighting, however; sadly not. The majority of images circulating are 'wildly exaggerated long exposure style zoom shots' (not a technical term by any means haha). The reality is, you really are looking at a now pin prick of light... Regardless, not to be discouraged by what presented itself to me as the early hours ensued. I braced myself for some cloud dodging snaps!

Cue the extremely short video:

Conditions

Fortunately, the clouds were less present than my weather app would have had me believe and sure enough as midnight came i could make out the faint smudge on the northern horizon. From my view point it sat happily in the valley between Skiddaw and Grisedale Pike where Bassenthwaite Lake lies but was moving towards Skiddaw quickly. By the time the summer afterglow had faded to a satisfactory level, it sat above Skiddaw. Winds were relatively low but the temperature followed suit making a nippy evening on top of Walla Crag on Sunday the 19th July 2020.

Clouds did indeed come and go but caused very little interference, my only real mild annoyance was the lingering low lying clouds aligned with the peaks of Skiddaw. I was hoping to get a clear shot of the peaks with the Comet.

Into The Night

In reflection I should have perhaps camped lower, or even scouted a better location within Keswick that would have allowed more foreground interest. Although to my defence; this little outing was about more than simply capturing NEOWISE. I am relatively new to any form of Landscape photography, my main love is capturing people, doing what people do in the most candid way. This little outing was also an opportunity to trial the camping equipment and allow me to develop my Landscape skills, both day and night. It also let me spend a little away time with my wife, we live in such a beautiful place here in the lakes with stunning vistas to match. The perfect surroundings to escape COVID 19, daily routines and the usual strains of modern living so in that respect, despite the chill; I was happy.

I did however manage to capture several shots i was quite happy with. Yes there is no real foreground interest and yes they are not an exaggerated streak through the heavens but they are real. A tweak to the colours to enhance the mood but very little else touched. These following set are very much as it appears at the moment, although bear in mind the longer exposure does enhance the visibility some.

But wait! there's more!

I believe my fascination with these cosmic ice balls perhaps hampered my creative intent. There are a lot of things i would have done differently if not for my overwhelming love of the sky. I found myself taking more close up images than necessary in what i believe was a misguided attempt to some how get closer and examine this rare sight. However!!! in doing so i managed to capture, what i believe is a shooting star (or meteorite to be precise) beginning its burn up in our atmosphere, see photo below:

To evidence the above claim, when NEOWISE was out of sight and my attention more focused on creativity i took the liberty of capturing some really nice peaks in subtle pastel shades. No prizes for guessing from which fell or mountain they belong, as we all know these anyway, right!? ;-)

Until next time, take care

Martin

#comethunting #neowise #wallacrag