{"id":14049,"date":"2020-05-19T13:37:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T20:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/?p=14049"},"modified":"2023-08-23T23:49:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T06:49:39","slug":"nightscape-photographer-brings-light-pollution-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"darksky_news","link":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/news\/nightscape-photographer-brings-light-pollution-in-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Shaw: Nightscape photographer brings light pollution into focus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Each month DarkSky International features a DarkSky Advocate from the worldwide <\/span><\/i>network<\/span><\/i><\/a> of volunteers who are working to protect the night. This month we\u2019re highlighting the work of DarkSky Delegate Mike Shaw (Minnesota). <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night sky is universal. It connects people all over the world to the same thing \u2014 the cosmos \u2014 but not everyone has a view of a truly dark sky. Through his photos of the night sky, DarkSky Delegate Mike Shaw is working to change that, because he knows that people must see and feel connected to something to be compelled to protect it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A <\/span>resident artist<\/span><\/a> at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum, Shaw is photographing the night sky at each of the nine levels of the\u00a0<\/span>Bortle Scale<\/span><\/a> across the state. By photographing the same section of sky from different vantage points and degrees of darkness across Minnesota, Shaw will help viewers see the differences in the night sky between a remote dark site and a bright inner-city location. His images will be projected in the planetarium at the Bell Museum, and he also plans to create virtual reality images for people to download from anywhere in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Michael C. Shaw<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A physics professor and research scientist before becoming a full-time photographer, Shaw has always had a fascination with space and\u00a0<\/span>with the natural sciences. After earning a PhD and literally becoming a rocket scientist, Shaw realized that his true love was sharing knowledge and fostering appreciation for the natural world \u2014 and he considers the cosmos as an extension of the environment. During photography workshops that he leads, one of his favorite things to do is to ask participants to lie in a circle with their heads together, looking straight up at a dark sky. From this vantage point, all you see is the sky. There is no horizon, which, Shaw says, \u201cis no different than the view of an astronaut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things about the night sky that is underappreciated by the general public, Shaw says, is that it is three dimensional. The stars are varying distances away from us, which is something you can only really appreciate when looking at a truly dark sky. He hopes that his photographs of dark skies can help people understand this depth and create a connection to the cosmos. As a DarkSky Delegate<\/a>, Shaw advocates for dark sky awareness and conservation because, as he says, \u201cit\u2019s not hard to imagine a future where this view is obscured everywhere.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Michael C. Shaw<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shaw considers himself more of a nightscape photographer than a traditional astrophotographer, due to the fact that his images generally include something terrestrial. He believes that images shot from this perspective, with a foreground, help provide context and allow people to develop a deeper connection to the night sky. When viewers see a landmark in a picture, it helps them to be able to imagine themselves standing there. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with being a nightscape photographer, author, speaker, and workshop leader, Shaw also runs the <\/span>Aurora Summit<\/span><\/a>, a conference all about the Aurora Borealis. At the end of this month, he\u2019ll be serving as a judge for <\/span>DarkSky<\/span><\/a>\u2019s \u201cCapture the Dark\u201d photography contest<\/span><\/a>, too. In addition to the formal criteria outlined for the contest, Shaw says that he\u2019ll be looking for shots that demonstrate the artist\u2019s connection with the sky. He says that pictures do not have to be technically sophisticated to show that photographers are in love with what they are seeing and want to share it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That connection with the natural world is what it\u2019s all about, Shaw says. And he encourages everyone \u2014 wherever they are, whether under a bright city sky or a dark sky in remote wilderness \u2014 to take a moment each night to look up and feel that connection to the cosmos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Michael C. Shaw<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DarkSky Delegate Mike Shaw captures the beauty of the night sky in Minnesota through photography, promoting dark sky awareness and fostering a deeper connection to the cosmos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":26206,"template":"","categories":[1287,633],"tags":[1063,1060,589,646,683,1057,1058,681,1059,1064,1061,1062],"advocacy_type":[123,285],"events_terms":[],"locations_terms":[],"admin_issue":[],"class_list":["post-14049","darksky_news","type-darksky_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monthly-star","category-news","tag-aurora-summit","tag-bell-museum","tag-bortle-scale","tag-capture-the-dark","tag-darksky-delegate","tag-mike-shaw","tag-minnesota","tag-monthly-star","tag-night-sky-photography","tag-nightscape-photography","tag-physics-professor","tag-virtual-reality","advocacy_type-advocacy","advocacy_type-monthly-star"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/darksky_news\/14049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/darksky_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/darksky_news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14049"},{"taxonomy":"advocacy_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/advocacy_type?post=14049"},{"taxonomy":"events_terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events_terms?post=14049"},{"taxonomy":"locations_terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations_terms?post=14049"},{"taxonomy":"admin_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/admin_issue?post=14049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}