7 - Exploring The Night Sky

Did you know that Andromeda galaxy is approximately 2.5 million light years away from Thetford? For one Thetford artist, Neil Garrod it’s been a challenge to capture the night sky from his back garden during the past year. Neil is a hybrid shooter, someone who works in both videography and photography, he says this is possible because of advances in the digital format. Neil grew up in the town, attending both Norwich Road and Charles Burrell High Schools where he loved art and gained As in his GCSEs before becoming a senior design engineer in the theatre industry. These days Neil is a wedding DJ and can be found hosting on Radio Thetford. Neil’s love of gadgets led him to drones, as soon as he saw one he knew he wanted to do drone photography. Neil recently rebranded from Neil James Aerial Photos & Videos to Neil James Media to cover all aspects of his work.

A passionate supporter of the town, Neil has delighted local people with his wonderful images of Thetford over the past few years. “I’m self taught and it is relativity all early days for me as I have only had my ground camera 14 months; but I have always had a passion for photography and then my drone side of things starting four years ago re-sparked that. I had a few enquiries for ground captures as well as from up in the air, so I looked into cameras to match the specifications I had with my drone. Part of my must have specs were making sure it could capture astrophotography and video as well. I ended up with going for a Sony mirrorless camera and 24mm wide angle lens.” Neil enjoys the multidiscipline of his work including creative portraits, “My top favourite is getting out with nature and capturing the sunlight hitting trees or buildings. It only happens for seconds sometimes, but then having that moment captured forever is very satisfying. My aim this year is to do more creative photo shoots outside and within nature or an urban environment. I’m also aiming to complete more creative video captures.” His late father, Derek loved being a videographer and Neil says he’s been inspired and influenced by his work. One of the benefits of the past year of lockdowns for Neil was having the time to experiment and develop his skills including being more creative with the editing process, the slightest tweak he says can make a big difference. Neil started taking astrophotography images when he became interested in photography. He initially spent evenings taking shots of stars and the milky way framed over Castle Hill or Nunnery Lakes using a static wide angle lens. “As my equipment grew, so did my interest in reaching further to deep space,” Neil said, “I have a wish list which doesn’t stop growing and was lucky enough to purchase a star tracker recently.” The star tracker enables longer exposures by rotating the camera at the same speed as the Earth. Neil’s first deep space capture was the Pleiades (Seven Sisters). You can see this on a clear night, as part of Taurus.

Thetford Hybrid Shooter, Neil Garrod who has enthralled followers of his Facebook page with images of Thetford’s night sky.

Neil has developed his astrophotography skills by using You Tube ‘how to’ videos, advice from Facebook groups and lots of practice shots, “You just can’t beat getting outside and trying things out, prepare for lots of failures to learn from, keep going and you’ll get some amazing captures. The moon isn’t too hard, you can even capture this with a good zoom lens and a steady hand.” Neil’s recent moon captures (see right) have improved since using the star tracker. It attaches between the camera and the tripod and rotates to follow the moon so you can take multiple photos. You can then stack these photos on top of each to make one image with more detail. This setup and method is the same for getting the better stars and almost essential for deep space nebulas and galaxies. When asked if he could take a photo of anything, what would it be, he replied that the Northern Lights are high up on his to-do-list and also a visit to the Highlands for some fantastic landscapes from the ground and drone. Although it’s been a difficult year Neil’s grateful that he’s had the opportunity to take creative portraits, live theatre performances in the summer, local company promo’s, product shoots, a wedding and of course nature shots. During the lockdowns his work has brought a lot of pleasure to followers on Facebook. To view Neil’s work, visit his gallery/art store at: www.neil-james.co.uk Or,

www.facebook.com/NeilJamesMedia www.instagram.com/Neil_James_Media

Do you have an interesting hobby or passion? If so, let us know at the About Thetford magazine and we may be able to feature you in a future edition. E-mail:

aboutthetfordmagazine@googlemail.com