Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Various Artists
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
04 AUGUST 2016 - 25 JUNE 2017
Free
The stars and night sky are both magical and awe-inspiring. Their sublime element makes us question our earth and ourselves, whilst also reminding us that we are a mere blip in the immense universe which surrounds us.
This exhibition shows us spectacularly detailed and informative images of the night sky and planets. The exhibition is divided into 10 categories: Aurorae, Galaxies, Our Moon, Our Sun, Planets, Skyscapes, Stars, People, Special Prizes and Young competition. Each category has a winner, runner up and maybe two or three 'Highly Commended' photographs.
The photographs have videos alongside where the photographers speak about their background, interest in astrophotography, as well as specifically about their featured photograph and how they achieved the desired effect. This was a nice touch as it reminded you that these photos were not purely scientific, they were not digitally created or used purely for education purposes; these photos were works of art.
Discovering the time, effort, preparation and dedication which goes into these photos only adds to their value. Some took up to a year to create and many took hours of long, dark cold nights outside waiting for that perfect image. As well as being an education, the exhibition holds so much more to it and is a great contribution to us beginning to recognise astrophotography as an art form and not merely as an informative tool.
The only criticism I would have about the exhibition is how the photographs were displayed: digitally and on small screens. It would have been great to see the photographs on a larger scale, in even greater detail than they were being exhibited. The room the exhibition was housed in in the Royal Observatory was on the small side, thus this may explain the smaller display size of the images. However, for an exhibition this striking and important I feel it should have been worthy of a bit more space.
Overall though, a must-see. It's on until June and is in one of my favourite areas of London - Greenwich, which has so much else to offer (go to the Market and grab a pie at Goddard's - see 'Food' section of this blog), so you have absolutely no excuse! This exhibition is original, educational and majestic: simply out of this world (pun fully intended).
OVERALL RATING: *****
http://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/insight-astronomy-photographer-year?gclid=CPDv4KbHydECFW0o0woduVgPUg
