Explosions of colour and beautiful spirals illuminate an ominous, dark landscape. The night sky over the Australian outback comes alive in the remarkable work of photographer Lincoln Harrison. As the earth rotates around its axis, Harrison captures breathtaking star trails using a special technique, and lots of patience.
Lincoln Harrison captures the beauty of the Australian landscape in an extraordinary manner, in photo collections of starry skies, mountain landscapes and bodies of water. Lincoln discovered his talent by chance when he began experimenting with landscape photography. His work has since been published internationally, including in the magazines N-Photo and LENS.
Red rocks stand out sharply against a stunning colour spiral. You almost feel like you can reach out and touch their rough surface. This almost Martian landscape was photographed by Harrison at The Pinnacles, a national park in Australia. “First I make the sharpest possible picture at sunset, then combine that with the photos of stars taken in the dark.”
Harrison’s images seem too exquisite to be true, and the final result requires many hours of nocturnal shooting. “I set the shutter time to be exceptionally long – twenty minutes to fifteen hours.” While the earth rotates and the light of the stars reaches the camera, Harrison zooms in – faster for an explosive effect, slower for a colourful spiral.
Seen with the naked eye stars appear white, but in reality they vary in temperature and colour. Special lighting allows Harrison to capture the bright colours on clear nights. “This photo is extraordinary. It looks like the sun is coming up, but it actually never got completely dark this night. On the horizon we see the lights of the city of Melbourne, 150 kilometres away.
