Spend a night capturing mesmerising star trails for you to create a star trail and a star trail time-lapse! This Masterclass teaching you how to set up your camera, plan your photoshoot, how star trails work, stacking your photographs and editing from start to finish.
David Magro Diaries 2018
During 2018 I captured landscapes across Australia in rural and light polluted locations. I met amazing people along the way who now have a passion for night photography from my Masterclass workshops.
I organised 70 Masterclass workshops across Australia photographing stunning locations. There is a lot of planning with night photography with many elements needing to align to capture one photograph.
My goal was to show others that night photograph can be a fun activity that anyone with any skill level can do. We all start somewhere and this dairy shows my journey - I hope to inspire others on their journey.
At the start of the Milky Way season, one of the first Masterclass workshops of the year was at Bateau Bay. After this night I was excited for the year I had planned as I had 65 locations to photograph this year. In light polluted areas you can photograph the Milky Way stars with the night sky emitting a cool tone due to city lights.
Also in March, I was approached the hold an exhibition. After a few meet ups I decided to organise a fund-raiser for the Children Ward at Gosford Hospital. Together with Tommy's Cafe we were able to raise $890 for the Childrens Ward at Gosford Hospital for a fund-raising event donating 1 metre framed photographs of "Field of stars" and "Terrigal Lights". I had always wanted to help the community and I was excited to be able to support a great cause with the help of many people.
During May I begun travelling the Masterclass workshops which were held in Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Canberra, Dubbo, Tamworth, Orange and Albury. I also had my own locations around the Central Coast I photographed which I want to revisit again.
To mix the night up, steel wool photography is a great way to bring excitement and produce stunning images.
In 2018 I was the Ambassador for Sandisk and Western Digital. In June, I had the first sponsored Masterclass workshop in Sydney and then flew to Queensland teaching night photography in Hervey Bay, Gladstone, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg. The Milky Way is only possible on select dates of the year and during the season I am constantly on the move travelling city to city every day.
We broke a Guinness World Record!
I hosted a Star Party with the ABC to break the Guinness World Record for having the most people look at the moon through a telescope simultaneously. It was an amazing night with the community which helped break a World Record together. There was over 40,000 people around Australia participating on this night.
Back to photographing the Milky Way! The Milky Way is best photographed in winter due to our Earth's position relative to the Sun. Plus there is less chance of cloud coverage and less humidity in the air. In July I had workshops in Victoria and the Hunter Valley with amazing locations and another Masterclass for Sandisk.
I placed Terrigal Lights in the Exposure photography exhibition which was displayed with amazing local artists such as Reed Plummer and Max Horncastle. It was displayed for six weeks as an open air display at The Entrance, Terrigal and then Erina Fair Shopping Centre. It also became a large centre piece in Bruce and Rhonda's home.
Andrew Cooney joined me in August to North Queensland assisting and filming the Masterclass workshops. It was fantastic having a friend join me while we photographed the night sky.
Here is a small video Andrew created.
Watch above my head after 20 seconds!
I am experimenting with new camera equipment filming the Milky Way - look close at the meteor above my head.
I have always wanted my own telescope, I can now attach my camera and capture distant nebulas, galaxies, star clusters and much more. There is much to explore on this side of photography and it has been an amazing journey peeking into deep space.
During September I went to Western Australia with 10 Masterclass dates. I have always wanted to photograph Sugarloaf Rock with the Milky Way and with three yearly attempts I have never captured the monolith with the stars due to cloud coverage. On this occasion after earlier being rained on we were able to photograph the Milky Way stars with the iconic Sugarloaf Rock. This was one a brief moment of time when we had clear skies as the clouds continued to roll in. With night photography, you need patience and persistence.
As a bonus, we had amazing green airglow this night.