Ben, Floyd & the Core

Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year is the largest international competition of its kind. Organised by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and sponsored by Insight Investment, the competition receives entries from photographers all around the world. It annually showcases the best space photography from a global community of astrophotographers.

This is me and my dog, Floyd, flanked by Mars, Saturn and the galactic core of the Milky Way galaxy. For me, this photo encapsulates my love for the cosmos and my relationship with it and those around me. As my constant companions, I often try (and fail) to capture the dogs at night with me. With this shot I had to reduce the shutter speed to 10 seconds to allow me to keep Floyd still. To counter this, I increased the ISO and whispered ‘don’t move, don’t move, don’t move’ to Floyd for the whole 10 seconds. This is a shot I had to repeat a number of times to get a non-blurred silhouette but finally we both managed to stay still enough to capture this single exposure shot. This is a photograph I am very proud of. It contains everything I love about photography; my relationship with the landscape and my family, dogs and friends. It also captures the majesty of the cosmos and our tiny place within it.

Ben Bush
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