Patrick Tangye Photography

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Cathedral

The basalt columns of Bombo Quarry rise up into the night sky, stretching towards the Milky Way.
The basalt columns of Bombo Quarry rise up into the night sky, stretching towards the Milky Way.

There is nothing more now
Just this moment under a billion lights
Soaking in their terrestrial glow
I am transported up now and away
On to this higher plane
Where I bathe in the stardust of all we are
And scrub myself clean

I was going to continue with my Autumnal posts from my time in Orange, but I went on an impromptu road trip to Bombo Quarry on Saturday night to take advantage of the perfect conditions so thought I'd post this instead.

It was clear skies, and the moon was in the First Quarter phase, scheduled to set at roughly 10:45pm. This meant the foreground was illuminated beautifully by moon-glow, without washing out the Milky Way above. You can see the shadow in the foreground - which was cast by the setting moon - and then the basalt columns stretching into the night sky lit only by moonlight.

This was my first time at Bombo, and I can see why it's such a popular destination to visit - there was something so cleansing about standing amongst these giant columns, with the thundering crash of waves a perfect soundtrack, below a billion glowing stars.

I will definitely be back.

This image is a stack of 20 images to help reduce noise.

The details for this image are:

  • Nikon D750 with Nikon 20mm f/1.8G
  • Sirui W-1204 tripod with K-20x Ball Head
  • 10s
  • f/2.2
  • ISO3200