shooting stars, cosmic clouds and …

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shooting stars, cosmic clouds and …

August 20, 2013 by Cynthia

As a child I learned to find Orion’s Belt in the night sky. But the star that mattered to me most was one whose name I still do not know with certainty. It was the bright light visible above the neighbor’s house across the street. Sometimes the speck would become lost in the canopy of the neighbor’s pear tree but inevitably at some point in some season its brightness shone. My mother, who knew far more about the earth than about the heavens, would point it out to me. With a smile, she always called it “Mama’s star.” In the quiet of the night, she would stare up into that sky, at her star, letting her mind roam. I’ve been lucky as an adult to travel the world and see the night skies from many different vantage points, and I feel lucky to live in an age when what I can’t see telescopes can capture beautifully.

By the way, these are not astronomy photographs.

While thinking about various things this morning, my eyes happened to fall upon the bowl of black sand I used for the recent shells photo shoot. I suddenly, desperately wanted to try photographing something else against that sand, especially something red. After deciding that using tomatoes would be bad (since I need them for dinner tonight), I searched and found some unopened tubes of glitter. As I poured them out onto the sand, the sun made them sparkle like stars. And thus the inspiration for this post.

Here’s NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Posted in Inspiration | Tagged astronomy, beauty, colors, creativity, fun, Inspiration, NASA, nightscapes, Photography, stars | 13 Comments

13 Responses

on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply Mr.Langosy

Cynthia..Zoe and I were just talking about how remarkable you are…. Mr.POP!
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply marina kanavaki

So, you mean that your wonderful cosmos above is …glitter?!!
Amazing, Cynthia!
🙂
- on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply Cynthia
  
  It did turn out surprisingly well. Thank you. 😉
  
  > Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:06:16 +0000 > To: cynthiastaples@hotmail.com >
  - on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 marina kanavaki
    
    Oh, yes it did! 🙂
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply Christy Birmingham

Wow, I love the way you created these pieces above!
- on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply Cynthia
  
  Thanks, Christy. 😉
  
  > Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 19:19:25 +0000 > To: cynthiastaples@hotmail.com >
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply mikeosbornphoto

Very creative and eye-catching work!
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply rutakintome

Awesome images!
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply vera ersilia

What a clever and smart idea..!!. if I can get hold of some sparkle sprinkles I will try it… thanks for the creative idea. I will not copy you though but do my own original creations… Thanks for these brilliant images. v.
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply vera ersilia

That image from NASA is out of this world in beauty and interest. Thank you for that one too.
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply erassima

Nice to read about your process.
on August 20, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply Steven Jackson

A super post and photos!
on August 29, 2013 at 10:45 | Reply the smell of space | Words + Images

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