The Night Photography Curse

I’m not sure if the night photography curse actually exists, but I haven’t taken any photographs past sunset since I took these.

Light painting an Orb at Llanthony Priory, Monmouthshire.

Getting in at 2am after being alone in the wilderness with little more than the night sky and my camera for company would never bother me previously. I might just be getting old, but I was looking forward to my bed after this shoot and decided against any further stops on the hour long journey home.

Determined not to wake any combination of the dog, my girlfriend or the baby, I gently closed the front door behind me, crept up the stairs and slid under the covers. Rest at last. 20 hour days are definitely harder than they used to be.

No more than an hour into my slumbers I was awoken. I’m not sure if it was the baby (who usually clocks up 12 hours or more of sleep a night) bellowing down the monitor or the jarring elbow to the ribs that woke me, or a combination of the two, but I was up and performing fatherly duties to the best of my ability in zombie mode.

Settling the baby back down was an impossible task, until she thought it was play time, laughing and chatting away. I’m not sure what time exactly it was, but the sun wasn’t up and I was in no mood for playing. Strange how my view towards playing didn’t change for the following two hours. Sleep eventually came. The three of us were in one bed in a formation that vaguely resembled an H (where the baby is the cross bar) and I was lucky enough to be blessed with tiny foot in my face.

Was this the long forgotten Augustinian residents of Llanthony Priory possessing and using my own child against me? Wandering around the ruins by star light, did I reveal some spirits into the ether and upset them with my modern day illuminations?

Star trails at Llanthony Priory, Monmouthshire

But other than being cursed, Llanthony Priory has been on my to-do list for quite some time. It’s such an amazing location, especially after the rowdy bunch of posh sounding  blokes left the pub as it closed. Their voices echoed around the ruins and ruined the atmosphere. But at around midnight, lights went out and the magic happened. I was so lucky to have such clear skies, and such dark skies too. The stars looked amazing. The milky way was visible, though I still seem to be unable to capture it in camera successfully, even with masses of post production. I’m sure I need to get a new lens… When’s Christmas again?