Around significant changes in the night skies, such as an eclipse or new moon, Kathryn Stivers and her small group of astrophotographers begin plotting their shots in the dark. 

“If you’re in a dark park along a coastline there is no light, and there are times when I can hardly see my hand in front of my face when I turn off my little flashlight,” says Stivers. “The camera is much more sensitive and much more capable of gathering all that light onto a single plane, and in this case, a photographic sensor that our eye-brain connection just can’t do.” 

Stivers’ photographs are currently on display at the Artport Gallery as part of “The Dark, Starry Skies of our Ancestors: An Astrophotography” exhibition.

The gallery features work by James Daniels, an avid outdoorsman and lifelong resident of the Big Bend area, as well as scientists Kyle P. Miller and Michael Riffle. Stivers says the exhibition was a wonderful opportunity to show their interpretations of the night sky through their respective lenses.

“We might be 100 feet away from each other, but we all come away with some stunningly different images,” says Stivers. “One of the reasons we decided to put together this show is to focus on the aspect of the vanishing skies of our ancestors. In a lot of ways our night sky is diminishing because of light pollution and overdevelopment. Part of it is to draw focus to this whole other world out there. Just because you can’t see it well doesn’t mean it’s not there, and it’s fascinating.” 

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