‘I think everyone benefits from being out under the night sky’

For Devon-based Jennifer Rogers, astrophotography offers a valuable opportunity to unplug from the modern world and connect to the rugged beauty, nature and wildlife of the South West Coast Path at night.

Jennifer was shortlisted in ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026 twice with two rather different photos; one depicting star trails circling above a Cornish tin mine, and one of an eagle-shaped aurora flying over a snowy Icelandic landscape.

Learn more about Jennifer, how she took her star trails photo Vortex, and how astrophotography gives her a valuable sense of freedom, adventure and peace.

How did you get into astrophotography?

My husband Seb first sparked my interest in the night sky when we were travelling in Australia and we used to sit out under the stars with a pair of his binoculars, looking up and picking out all the constellations. 

He's extremely supportive of me coming out to shoot the night sky and he's come on many adventures with me. Either that or he's looking after our daughter Christina.

I'm a member of Barnstable Camera Club and in 2018 Stephen Banks, who calls himself the Dorset Scouser, came to do a talk. He takes astro images in Dorset and I thought his images were absolutely stunning. I thought ‘I want to try that!’

So that's when I started going out with my pal Jane Kearney whenever there was a clear night to take either star trails or photos of the Milky Way.

How did you take Vortex?

Vortex captures Earth's rotation over a 71-minute period, where the stars are recorded as trails. 

I aligned the mine’s chimney with Polaris and I named it Vortex because you've got that circular effect of the star trails around the North Pole. 

I used a Canon DSLR camera with a very wide-angle lens at 14 millimetres because I wanted to get as much of the night sky above the mine as possible.

I put my tripod really low to the ground and my camera in portrait position and then I angled it up to get as much of the sky as possible while still including the mine and the chimney. 

I took 71 lots of one-minute exposures, and I did it that way rather than having the shutter open for 71 minutes because the camera would overheat. 

I used something called an intervalometer, which allows me to release the shutter repeatedly for one minute at a time. I did consecutive shots with an interval of one or two seconds between them.

The one-minute exposures were then all stacked in Photoshop to create the star trail effect. I then blended this with a separate shot that I took afterwards, another one-minute exposure with a lantern inside the mine.

What advice would you give to people thinking of taking up astrophotography?

Just go out and have a go; take your phone, put it into night mode and it will take an exposure of the night sky. See what you can see.

You'll see amazing constellations, you'll see planets, and if you're really lucky, whilst we're at solar maximum, you might see some aurora as well if you look north.

You need a dark place away from buildings, lights and cities, so it's a reason to really go and immerse yourself in wild places. 

It's also an opportunity to be by yourself or with a small group of people and really experience the space and time of just being, rather than being busy. 

What would you like people to get from the image?

I'd like people to take away with them a sense of movement. We're part of this amazing Milky Way galaxy, we're going around the Sun, we're on a planet that's rotating every 24 hours. 

Vortex is all about our movement past the stars.

You can follow Jennifer on Instagram or visit her website.