Take the previous picture. Aaaand take it again. Then again and again whilst you sit on a rock freezing to your very core with your backside already numb. In all, take it around 120 times. Add an extra frame to light paint the castle remains with a torch, merge the results in something like DeepSkyStacker and Bob’s your Dad’s brother. Job done, back to the bar to thaw out!

This was the first time I’ve used the K5 for stars/startrails and it finally signals the end for my trusty old K10D, which has been hardware of choice for such tasks since 2007. Goodbye, old pal.

Sometimes the stars just align and everything works out. On a weekend trip to Snowdonia this January I was staying in a hotel close to the remains of Dolbadarn castle. When the evening skies cleared and the temperatures remained bearably mild I thought my luck was in… until I got the tripod from the car and discovered it was out of action.

I thought the opportunity had passed and was about to hit the bar as consolation when a random act of kindness saw me equipped with a loan tripod, allowing me to get out there and shooting.

Single exposure deliberately underexposed to avoid noise reduction kicking in, then boosted 2 stops in post.

Just another formulaic landscape shot to add to the 2012 collection…

Time is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Could I be using it more effectively? Should I be using it more effectively? What would I choose to do if time was suddenly in abundance? How would I make ends meet – would it involve photography?

Only one thing is for sure – the ND110 filter turns the passing of time into something I like.

This was the very first shot I took in 2012 at the start of a photographically productive, materially destructive day. By the time I reached this location my car had already suffered a cracked windscreen…