11/15/12 Chasing Your Starlight: Star Trails

Star trails this past Thursday on a chilly November

evening outside Kewanee, IL

Thursday, I ventured out during the early evening as the skies cleared to shoot some star trails outside Kewanee, IL. It was nearly a perfect night for this type of photography. Clear skies, low humidity, and very little moonlight helped to create some beautiful photography. My only regret was that I didn't have more time to visit a few more locations which I have scoped out in the local-area. I haven't done much photography of this kind of sort over the last few years and frankly I would love to do more. It may be a little boring at first, but it's pretty cool the crazy photos you can achieve by taking the time to look up at the stars. Well worth the time and effort. Most of the star trails I shot below were short exposures due to time constraints. I have added a few of my favorites below:

Cool shot with the stars above our

outdoor pool enclosure...

 Animated.gif of the stars as the Earth spins
on its axis creating the "trails" (above)
Click to enlarge...

Warp speed Captain Kirk!

One of my favorites!

Another cool shot! (looking north)

Star trails above the house!

Definitely another favorite from the evening
using the star Polaris in the northern sky...

Wind farms in the distance with

star trails in the southern horizon...

That's all for now. I'll be pretty quiet on here for the short term as we head into the Christmas holiday retail season which tends to take up most of my time on an annual basis this time of year. Should be quite a busy month for myself, but I'll enjoy the extra $$$ to afford some new toys I'm already looking into for next spring. The weather has been very dull around here as of late. Hopefully, we will get some winter weather soon here in central Illinois. I wouldn't be surprised to see something of "note" within the first two weeks of December around these parts. Maybe Old Man Winter will show himself soon...