Grow to the Stars

A photo composite of multiple exposures. From the photographer: “I drive past this hill on my way to and from work. It’s Snyder’s Hill in Saugerties, where the kids go sledding in the winter. It’s set just far enough back from the road to shroud these trees with darkness at night. I asked permission from the owner of the property to photograph the trees under a clear night sky. I captured 15 second exposures for over an hour, but there were clouds for the first hour. I combined the exposures with clear skies (x80 shots) and blended them together in Photoshop to create the star trails effect. I chose the angle because I wanted to convey the passage of time in congruence with the slow growth of these trees over the years. It is a nice play between the rotation of the Earth creating circles, and the growth of the trees creating fractals as they extend toward the sky.”

Technical details:
Sony A7RII, Viltrox 16mm F1.8, at 2.8, ISO3200
80 x 15 second sub exposures