F E AT U R E
Stars in his eyes P H OTO G R A P H E D BY M A R K G E E
Mark Gee frequently ventures out under the darkest, most remote skies in New Zealand. The multi-award-winning photographer has been short-listed for Astronomy Photographer of the Year every year since 2012 and his short film, Full Moon Silhouettes, has been broadcast by NASA. Francesca Emms asked him about his fascination.
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ark wants you to go out and spend time under the night sky. He says it’s a great place to sit back and ponder, and think about life in general. ‘Once you begin to think about the incredibly vast distances in space, you quickly start to realise just how small we are in the grand scheme of things, especially in this world where technology usually keeps us company. So get back to nature, head out to the darkest location you can find, and spend the night looking up at the stars − it can certainly put life in perspective.’ The first time Mark really saw the Milky Way with his own eyes he was putting the rubbish out and happened to look up. ‘It was one of those perfectly crisp and clear winter nights. I had never seen so many stars in my life.’ It was 2003 and he was visiting Castlepoint for the first time. He grabbed his camera and tripod, pointed the camera up and took a shot. ‘The photo was disappointing, as I could see more stars with my own eyes than what was in the photo itself!’ But that night ignited Mark’s passion for astrophotography.
By day Mark is a digital visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital, with a number of feature films under his belt (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Avatar and King Kong, just to name a few). At night he grapples with astrophotography, which he describes as one of the most frustrating forms of photography there is: ‘It’s an environment where the weather is constantly changing, and you’re photographing in remote areas, in the dark, where a lot can go wrong.’ In addition, the night sky is continually rotating. ‘When trying to compose the landscape with the Milky Way positioned perfectly over it, you don’t have long to get the shot. In some cases, if you miss that shot, you’ll have to wait another year until the night sky lines up perfectly to your composition to try again.’ Planning ahead is crucial, he says. Mark does all his location scouting during the day, and uses apps on his phone to visualise where the Milky Way is in relation to the landscape. Focus is critical, and a difficult process as you can’t use auto-focus
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