Just Do It!

This will be quick - I'm ashamed to admit to being one of those people who often has lots of plans and good intentions but many of them stay that way for ages, put on the back burner, procrastinated, the delay justified and rationalised over and over again.

One of the things I've been meaning to have a go at for ages is night photography or 'astrophotography' if you prefer. At home I'd need to wait til a clear day, then get out of the city to get away from the light pollution etc etc, and so I've always put it off even on days which would probably be suitable.

For the Christmas / New Year holidays we've gone away to visit my parents and my wife's (Emily) parents - we are very lucky that they both live in rural areas and we've had some beautifully clear nights so I finally got off my butt and did it - I went outside and took some pictures of the sky, I'm not expecting NASA to call me anytime soon, nor National Geographic - that was never the intention, I just wanted to see what sort of images I could record of one of natures most beautiful spectacles, and I was pretty happy with the results considering it was a first attempt.

(NB - I have no idea why they have been uploaded as mirror images, but its late and I can't be bothered to try and fix it!)

1st Attempt - Taken on Sutton Heath, Suffolk just a few minutes drive from my in-laws.

2nd Attempt - Taken in my parents back garden, near March, Cambridgeshire

I can fairly safely say that these will not be my final attempts as these short spells of star gazing have reminded my just how stunningly beautiful the night sky is and how much pleasure, satisfaction and wonder can be gained from just spending some time contemplating the heavens.

I also hope that this moment of motivation will serve to remind me to stop putting things off, and make me more willing to 'Just Do It!' when I am tempting to procrastinate - I suspect that virtue will come in useful in the New Year!

Richard