Carlow photographer shortlisted for space photography award
Mark Gribbin at the observatory in his back garden
A STAR gazer living in Carlow town has just been shortlisted for an award in a competition that specialises in astro-photography.
Mark Gribbin is one of just six photographers shortlisted from 160 snappers who entered into the deep space category of the prestigious astro-photography competition, run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).
“I only do astro-photography [taking photos of stars] as a hobby. It’s one of the rare situations where an amateur’s photo can be just as valuable as a professional’s,” Mark explained.
Mark is so dedicated to the sky at night and tracking stars that he built an observatory in his back garden. His award-nominated photo of the Sunflower Galaxy was only possible because he spent night after night tracking its progress across the sky using highly specialised equipment.
“I spent a long time tracking the Sunflower, editing the images and stacking them on top of each other to create the photo. I specifically built a rig that would let me shoot galaxies and I tracked it with very high precision using long exposures,” explained Mark.
Mark has always loved astronomy, ever since he first saw the images that were sent back from the Hubble satellite when he was a child in the mid-1990s.
He’s originally from Dublin but a move to Carlow with its cleaner, clearer skies meant that he could pursue his interest in more depth than before.
“We were always going to move out of Dublin, so when we came to Carlow the first thing I did was to buy a nice, big telescope,” he said.
The competition aims to find the best astro-photographs taken in Ireland over the past year. While a high-profile judging panel will select the overall winning entries, an online vote is open to members of the public to view the images and vote for their favourite in the public choice award at www.reachforthestars.ie/exhibition.
The voting is open until 5pm on Thursday 24 July and is restricted to one vote per person.
The winning images selected by a judging panel and the public choice award will be announced in August, with an accompanying outdoor exhibition being held at DIAS headquarters on Dublin’s Burlington Road for a limited time.
If Mark does scoop the top prize, he’ll also get a cash prize, which he’ll invest in more specialised equipment.
And while his dream is to float in space, far above the world, his expectations are a little more realistic and earth-bound.
“From day one, my dream has always been to go into space. I know that’s probably not possible, so, if not, a good, big observatory on the top of a big mountain will do,” he smiled.
