March AstroMeet

This month we will head back to the famed Barrenjoey Lighthouse in Palm Beach, at the tip of Sydney's Northern Beaches. Our last visit was under cloud, but we are positive of the forecast on this event (based on the Accuweather & Weatherzone long term forecast) that we will have a high possibility of clear skies.

We have selected a weeknight for this event as weekends can see many photographers out making it difficult to capture the shots.

Aside the classic image of the lighthouse itself, there are plenty of great compositions to look for around the headland, so plenty for everyone to shoot. 

While on site, I will go through some basics about safety, etiquette, how to find the Milky Way, how to capture it, how to look for a unique composition and how to manage lens fog when it occurs on cold nights (as it surely will!). Due to popular request, we will also discuss lighting and capturing foreground subjects in your night sky images, something that is particularly challenging when photographing the bright light of active lighthouses.

We will shoot from when the Milky Way rises through to 06:30AM to descend to the car park before sunrise. 

Meeting Time: Thursday 26 March @ 22:00

Galactic Core Visible - 22:59 til 05:41

Sunrise - 07:04

Conclude: Friday 27th March @ 07:00

Weather Dependent - This is a Weather Dependent event. If heavy rain or storms are forecast we will cancel or postpone the event to a later date. We will still run the event if it is cloudy, as we can have some light painting fun around the lighthouse if the skies fail to clear for us. 

Parking - Park in the Governor Philip Reserve Car Park. Paid parking concludes at 7PM and commences at 7AM. Park at the very top of the parking area on the Pittwater side. We will meet in the northern most parking area near the toilet block.

Fitness Requirements - The hike up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse takes approximately 25 minutes and follows a steep paved pathway. You should be of moderate fitness and mobility to complete this climb.

Why is there a charge for this event? - In order to run events in many areas and especially National Parks, we need to be licensed operators and maintain the appropriate levels of Public Liability insurance all of which create an overhead to hosting an event.

Jay is a licensed Commercial Tour Operator with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to operate photography events at Barrenjoey and the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park under EcoPass #19/62.

• Night shooting safety
• Locating the Milky Way
• Quick Milky Way settings
• Focusing in the dark
• Night shooting etiquette
• Looking for the unique
• Night shooting lighting and capturing foregrounds
• Managing lens fog

• MOST IMPORTANT - Working Headlamp or torch (no mobile phone torches please!)
• A camera with Manual controls and interchangeable lenses
• Lenses suitable for astrophotography (between 12mm & 24mm preferably with f/2.8 or faster)
• Remote shutter for camera
• Sturdy tripod
• A small towel to cover your camera
• Warm layered clothing, beanie or other warm headwear, and warm socks/shoes or boots
• Full water bottle and snacks