Razorback

Some places make you realise how much of the night sky we normally never get to see. I captured "Razorback" at Razorback Lookout in South Australia in September 2025. The image went on to win DarkSky International’s Capture the Dark Photo Contest 2026, which means a lot after the amount of time I’ve spent over the years chasing dark skies and working on astrophotography. I was travelling through South Australia with a friend who grew up there, so I was lucky enough to be shown some incredible places by someone who knew the area properly. Razorback Lookout was one of them. Australia was a very different place to shoot at night compared with New Zealand. Even at that time of year, the heat was still coming off the red earth after dark. Shooting under the stars in a t-shirt felt strange when I’m normally wearing several layers back home. I also learned pretty quickly that you have to be a bit more careful about where you leave your gear. On the first night of the trip, a can of sugary drink spilled through my camera bag. I left it sitting on the ground, and it didn’t take long for the bugs to find it, especially the bull ants. That was a good lesson for the rest of the trip. The skies out there were incredible. The glow rising through the image is zodiacal light, caused by sunlight scattering off dust in our Solar System. Both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are visible, and during the exposures, a piece of space debris passed straight through the zodiacal light. I really like that little accidental detail. There is so much happening in the night sky that we normally never notice. Size: 15000 x 8383 = 125,745,000 pixels Resolution: 125.75 megapixels Tech info: Sky: 24 tracked shots, Canon R6ii H alpha modified, Sigma 28mm Art, f/2.8, 30s, ISO 3200 Ground: 24 shots, Canon R5, Sigma 28mm Art, f/16, 1/20s, ISO 800 Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Now minted as a 1/1 NFT, "Razorback" is a one-of-one piece from a night and a place I won’t forget.