THANK YOU for all the kind words, "likes", "shares" and all the honest opinions.
They have become my source of inspiration and reflection along the way.

But I am sorry that I could not answer/reply all the queries and personal messages one by one.

For a healthy discussion, let me try to address the best I could the questions that I can remember.

The Milky Way can be seen in the Philippines, and our cameras if used properly can see so much more details than our naked eyes. But there are numeric values to be considered because unlike the sun and the moon, the galaxy position, location and azimuth numbers significantly vary in time with respect to different months. In actual, these numeric figures can affect a composition.

And in my experience, exposure values differ as well, contrary to what the experts stated above.
These depend on another set of factors that could affect the output image. To name some, focal length, atmospheric temperature, lunar angle, pollution and many others governing the "quality of darkness". It may be easier for some to capture the Milky Way but I was trying to create a photograph, not a science project.


Marrying the simplicity of a common farm hut with the complex beauty of the universe was my objective here. I admire the many who have seen what the elements represent, as well as I truly appreciate the interpretation of others. For our eyes may all look physically the same but we see things in our own unique ways.

It may seem unbelievable but definitely it is not fake.
This is not manipulated, nor in multiple frames, and I didn't have the luxury of time in all of my planned and alternative locations.

Framed in absolute darkness and uncropped, I took the shot in raw so I could correct the color temperature, along with other parameters, to the closest possible suggested color temperature of the Milky Way and with full consideration to my recollection of the lighted foreground.

By the way, I shot the Milky Way for my personal project, “The Lonely Specks.” Although I was fascinated with astrophotography years back, it was only triggered sometime in August 2014 when I encountered the Ocean of Stars. From then on, I started planning, read maps and, when I got the chance, studied the terrain of some places.

In the middle of May, 2015, I brought the homework to the field tests, and exposed myself to the risks.

Coincidentally, this photo was taken just two days before PAGCOR's 3rd National Photo Contest deadline.

The result prompted me to drop my pre-selected entry to give a slot for this photograph.

For the original caption of the photograph, please refer to the link below:

http://www.pbase.com/wishland/image/160737080

Again, thank you very much for all your support.

My kind regards,

Charlie Sindiong

[www.pbase.com/wishland]
July 2015

(Posted for reference)