Growing up in a small village in Hungary far from light pollution, I had plenty of opportunities to watch the stars at the sky even from our backyard. I loved doing this very much. Watching the stars is a kind of time travelling, because the light of stars is travelling to earth for years and years, the very distant stars’ light even for millions of years. This means that when we look at the night sky we see the stars as they were many time ago so actually we are looking into the past. It’s very exhilarating.

Today, stargazing is very difficult in most regions of earth, especially on the island of Oahu, which is one of the most overpopulated places in the Universe. Pollution from the lights of Honolulu is the biggest culprit in blocking the view of the stars. Light pollution is not only a problem for stargazers. It’s also a waste of energy and a threat to many species in the wild as the bright light is disorienting birds and even sea turtles which use the stars as a compass.

A few nights ago, I went to Kaena Point which is probably the furthest place from Honolulu on the whole island to do some night photography. Kaena Point is a nice area for stargazing, I was able to see the Milky Way and many well-known constellations, however, I have to realize that photographing the night sky is not easy here, because many artificial light sources can be seen from the roads, the mountains, the beaches or even from the sea. Since it was impossible to create real nature photographs with the night sky, I decided to take a self-portrait, especially because I needed something or someone to hide the street lights of the rural community of Makaha at the foot of Waianae Mountains. The massive light pollution of Honolulu can also be seen above the mountains, in spite of the town is more than 30 miles (50 km) away from Kaena Point.

Gear: Canon EOS 7D, Canon 17-40mm F/4 L lens, Canon 430EX flash, Manfrotto tripod