Circles in the night - star trails by Karla Leeftink

About "Circles in the night - star trails"

by Karla Leeftink

About the artwork

On clear nights, it is possible to photograph star trails around new moon in the darkest places in the Netherlands. On a cold evening in February, I am in the field with that goal in mind. It is a day before new moon and the moon has already set. I have carefully determined my location: I am standing near 'De Baak', a beautiful marker for walkers of the Pieterpad at the edge of the Balloërveld field. De Baak - made by artist Arie Fonk - consists of sixty boulders: a large boulder in the middle surrounded by a circle of boulders, which eventually lead to the plate on the boulder. The staff shows two hands, each pointing in a direction. It reads: Pietersberg 415 km, Rolde klein stoefie, Pieterburen 67 km, Gasteren 1/2 hour goans. The staff itself is pointing upwards, towards the pole star, So as far as I am concerned, it could be added: Polaris, 323 light years...I look for the big bear when it has gotten dark enough and so quickly find the pole star. I get my tripod and photographic equipment ready with the proper settings and then the wait for dark begins. I take a series of 130 contiguous photos of 29 seconds each. The photo is finally the result of an accumulation of 72 photos of 29 seconds each (ISO 800, f/4) in Photoshop where I removed airplane stripes etc. from each individual photo. The result is an image with not only a circle of stones but with many more circles, namely star trails in the sky.