Kite's Night Skies

18/08/2026

My first active attempt to capture the Milky Way's galactic core, which is the super bright section you can only see at certain times of the year. Well a lot went wrong! A road closure meant I had to find another place to get to the beach and I missed the blue hour by 20 minutes (best time to take a foreground photo). I had no phone signal so couldn't check to see if I was standing in the right spot to see the core behind the church. And then my battery ran out between taking the first and last photos, which meant I moved the camera by mistake.

On the positive side, it was a lovely spot looking at the little church in the sea surrounded by curlews. There was a lot of airglow in the sky that added extra colour. And also the cloud haze made the stars look more romantic - some photographers deliberately put on soft filters to achieve this effect. I'll have to return to this place one day! 11/08/26, 00.00, St Cwyfans, North Wales 🌌⛪️🌊

15/08/2026

Meteors caught at the height of the Perseids shower, 12/08/26, between 23.15 and 23.30. These photos were take from the garden of the holiday place we rented for the week, just goes to show you can sometimes see cool sky stuff even in built up areas! Meteors can be distinguished from satellites and planes by their bright colours. They look like a bright fast streak to the eye. If you look closely you can also see the bum end of the Milky Way (the North end!) And also the Andromeda Galaxy to the right of the Milky Way on picture 1. Will attempt something more interesting next year! 🌠

09/08/2026

Nice astro start to my holidays! Diffuse pink aurora I can see from the back garden in the village, and even accidentally caught a meteor whilst looking for aurora on the beach. Probably Perseids meteors which peak this week! 🌠

31/07/2026

I felt inspired to try and capture my local castle with the almost full Buck moon rising behind it. I did check out a few locations as really wanted to do it with a long zoom lens and use compression to make the moon massive!! Unfortunately I couldn't find a great spot in the right direction, unobstructed and at the right distance (you need to be about 2-3km away with my lens).

So I decided to experiment creating a composite image instead! Denbigh Castle I shot at 21.40 with my wide lens. I went down the hill near a field behind the castle and then shot the moon with a telephoto lens at about 22.15. Then I edited and blended the photos using software. I did use PhotoPills to make sure the moon was in the right direction on the final composition, but it wouldn't be this large or high up naturally last night 🏰🌕

18/07/2026

Not the photo I had aimed for as couldn't get closer to the reservoir, but still, another milky way photo and perhaps an improvement on the last one! 23.50, 17/07/26, Llyn Alwen, North Wales 🌌

13/07/2026

So I had wanted to travel to the west side of the Great Orme to try and capture the glow worms again with the Milky Way as a backdrop. All the glow worms had gone already! There was also a wildfire burning on the Sychnant Pass due to the recent dry, hot weather conditions in North Wales. Wasn't really planning on the flames to line up with the bottom of the Milky Way but there you go... the beauty of nature meets the force of nature. View over towards Deganwy and Dwygyfylchi. 00.05, 13/07/26, Great Orme, North Wales, UK 🌊🌌🌠⛰️

11/07/2026

11/07/2026

A first for me, noctilucent clouds and a faint diffuse aurora (summer auroras are very hard to capture), brill! 23.35, 09/07/26

01/07/2026

I've always considered the moon to be (1) pretty annoying when I'm trying to capture other things in dark skies, and (2) extremely difficult to photograph, generally looking like a shapeless white pinprick. In fact it was my achilles heel of night sky photography. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and try and embrace it instead! A number of firsts in my attempt last night...

☑️First ever moon photo
☑️First time using a telescopic long lens
☑️First time bracketing shots for exposures (taking a few photos at different exposures to improve the final photo)
☑️First time using Photoshop editing software
☑️First time stacking photos for improved detail

There is room for improvement, but as in life, it's good to tackle things you hate head on and try and find a silver lining... a silvery moon lining 🌝

Strawberry moon rising, 23.15, 30/06/26, North Wales, UK

29/06/2026

A moderate display of NLCs in North Wales before clouds stopped play and the drizzle started. Cool to see the difference between the higher, bluer NLCs earlier, and the more complex whiter, textured ones later on. Just about got a small reflection on the water in picture 3, so that's a first at least. Denbigh, North Wales, UK, 23.25-23.45, 28/06/26

**Digital download £20 / A3 print £40 / A2 print (subject to proof test) £50 / DM me**