By day, Cliff Loehr is an SAIC software test engineer supporting the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center. By night, he is an amateur photographer pushing the limits of his new passion -- star trails.
A star trail is a type of photograph that records the night sky over a period of time, from minutes to hours, to capture the apparent motion of stars in the night sky due to the rotation of the Earth. Techniques vary from long-exposure times to post-production stacking of multiple photographs.
Loehr, a board member of the Huntsville Photographic Society, recently discovered his interest in photography.
"My son introduced me to photography two years ago. We started working on night photography techniques together and enjoy having a common interest," said Loehr.
Always looking for interesting subjects, Loehr contacted Redstone Arsenal officials earlier this year seeking permission to photograph outdoor displays and artifacts on Martin Road. On March 13th, he found his muse; a rocket engine in front of building 4205.
"I used an 11mm (wide angle) lens to capture lots of sky. It consists of roughly 200 images at 30 seconds each which were overlaid on each other to construct the star trails. All images were taken in one 2-hour session with several images containing light painting (done with a flash light) to highlight different parts of the rocket and provide some special effects. The combination of rockets and stars just seem to work well together," said Loehr.
To help explain his passion for night photography, Loehr shares a quote from the Dutch post-Impressionist painter of "The Starry Night," Vincent Van Gogh, "I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."
For more information about night photography and to view samples of Loehr's work, see www.niteBulb.com. For more information on the Huntsville Photographic Society visit www.huntsvillephotographicsociety.org.
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