Stefan Official
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 p.1 #1 · Listening to the Universe | |
I had two specific scenes in mind and waited months for the perfect time window. When the weather finally aligned, I left – 4.5 hours of driving, four nights on the road. Then: two breakdowns on two separate nights. Two tow trucks, two taxis (130 euros each), 600 euros in repair costs. Barely any sleep during the day because I had to deal with repairs.
Of course, there was also a public holiday in between. Great timing. Garages were closed, no rental cars anywhere – more lost time.
After a night of photography, I arrived at the garage Friday morning at 7 a.m., where my car had already been dropped off. I wanted to sleep, but had to organize everything. Getting parts wasn’t easy if they weren’t in stock. I needed the car back as quickly as possible.
Luckily, the garage had a clever idea: they gave me a rental car for 25 euros to drive 40 km to pick up parts from another shop. It was fast and cost-effective, and I was honestly thankful.
The team was extremely helpful. By 2 p.m., everything was fixed, cleaned, and ready. I hadn’t slept in 28 hours and felt like a zombie-robot hybrid.
And then finally: a clear night. Everything was set up, calibrated, tracking active. I was ready. Or so I thought. Just before midnight, a beam of light lit up the scene. For a second, I thought: the UFO has arrived.
But no, it was a tractor. A farmer started plowing the field next to me. At midnight. In complete darkness.
Seriously? I came here once in my life, everything finally fits, and then... a tractor. I honestly thought the universe was testing me.
But 30 minutes later, silence. I managed to capture the Milky Way just in time. The core is visible only two hours per night. No margin for error.
To make it all work, I photographed the sky and foreground separately. Star tracking makes the sky sharp but blurs the landscape – so: two exposures, double the work.
The final image consists of two parts: a 3× mosaic for the foreground and a tracked single exposure for the sky. My goal was a visual harmony between Milky Way, antennas, and landscape – precise, cinematic, and filled with that silent, dreamlike sense of awe you get in great film moments.
The second image will follow in a few days. For now, I need sleep. And hope the tractor isn’t on fredmiranda😊
Technical Data:
📷 Camera: Sony Alpha 7R V
🔭 Lenses:
– Sony FE 14mm F1.8 GM (foreground)
– Sony FE 28–70mm F2.0 GM (sky)
🗻 Mount: Benro Cyanbird Carbon Tripod + Benro Polaris Astro Tracker
➕ Panorama: 3× mosaic (untracked, 65% overlap), sky as single tracked frame
✂️ Stitched in: PTGui
🌌 Aperture: f/2.5
🌙 ISO: 200 (sky), 100 (foreground)
⏱️ Exposure per frame: 6 minutes (sky), 12 minutes (foreground)
🕒 Total exposure time: 42 minutes
 Listening to the Universe by Stefan Zimmermann Official, auf Flickr
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I'm glad the atmosphere came through. The location felt quiet but connected to something far beyond. I tried to honor that.