The Photographer Who For The Last Two Years Has Traveled Thousands Of Miles Chasing Starscapes

This photographer who for the last two years has traveled thousands of miles chasing amazing star scapes around Spain has issued incredible star-scape pictures as warning of what we stand to lose if we do nothing about light pollution. 

One show shows the Milky Way seeming to form a straight line from the end of his fingertips up into the vast darkness while another captures stars swirling around the ruins of a castle creating a once in a lifetime shot. 

A stunning image shows the Milky Way acting as the rainbow perfectly framing a lighthouse. These images were captured by nursing assistant Borja Rial Pereira (35) from Ourense Spain. 

Borja has traveled thousands of miles to capture his astrophotography, he likes to keep his work close to his home in Spain as he believes it shows the beauty right on our doorstep that few take the time to notice. 

So far Borja has only shot in Spain and Portugal, but he frequently has to travel to the outskirts, away from the city to avoid light pollution. These images were captured on his Sony ILCE-7M2, he can spend two hours getting the perfect shot, but it is never wasted time. 

“For my night photography I always make a study of the moment. We look for the day when the Milky Way can be appreciated in its totality, with the absence of the moon,” said Borja. 

“We look at the weather and of course the place from where we are going to do it. In case there is any forbidden area or any danger. I appreciate that what we get to capture you do not see with the naked eye. It is a blessing to know, discover or learn what the universe teaches us. I think we photographers always get really excited about the ‘last one’ we just took. But if I had to choose a favorite photograph, I would choose one I have with my partner under one of the most beautiful lighthouses on my land.” 

It is a joint effort to shoot the images and then process them. In night photography you always have to do development and post-processing. But it is true that when you see the raw image in the camera of what you have just shot, you feel euphoric when everything turns out well. 

People usually have only good things to say and like this kind of photography. Sometimes there are people who do not trust all that about the Milky Way and its nebulae and colors as something “real”. 

But it is normal to see these kinds of reactions to an arc of the Milky Way in panoramas, since in reality you don’t see an “arc”. 

“I travel a lot of miles for my shots. Living in cities, we have to drive for hours to avoid the light pollution of the towns that would prevent us from taking a good picture,” said Borja.

“I like to do most of my photography in my homeland, because I like to show it off, there is so much beauty on your doorstep, just look up. So far the best place I’ve been for night photography has been on the border between Spain and Portugal. ”

In the northern part is the Peneda-Gres National Park. The sky there is incredible. Light pollution is getting worse. It’s something that every country in the world has yet to correct. 

“You really don’t realize how much pollution there is of this type until you do night photography. As of today, the Milky Way is no longer visible to a third of the Earth’s population,” said Borja on improvising on photography.

“My images can take from half an hour to two hours to create. It all depends on what kind of shot I want. When I want to do a panorama, we’re talking about a lot of photos. It’s like making a mosaic of photos.”

Three rows for the sky which is about ten photos each row. Two rows for the ground with another ten photos per row. 

If I want to get as much detail as possible I might double or triple each photo in each row to stack them later. In the end each panorama will have over one hundred photos. But it’s fun and exciting.

Produced in association with Magazine Features (South Africa).