A Lifetime Beneath the Stars
I don't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by the night sky.
When I was little, I would look up at the stars and wonder what was out there. I didn't have the words for it then, and I'm still not sure I do now. There was simply something about the vastness above me that felt familiar. The stars seemed impossibly distant, yet somehow deeply connected to me—a quiet reminder that there was a universe far bigger than the little world I knew.
That feeling has stayed with me.
For decades, some of my favorite places to experience the night sky have been at my grandparents' cabin in the woods, south of Flagstaff. I've spent countless evenings there looking up through the trees, watching the stars emerge as the last traces of daylight disappeared. The cabin has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and so has that particular view of the sky.
There is something special about returning to a place you've known for years and realizing that the sky above it has been a constant all along.
I've always wanted to photograph the night sky. I've taken plenty of photographs over the years, but astrophotography has always felt like something just beyond my reach—a little more technical, a little more demanding, and perhaps a little more intimidating than the kinds of photography I was already comfortable with.
Lately, though, I've been learning, and for the first time, I'm beginning to capture the night sky in some of the ways I've imagined for years. This time lapse is my first, and there will be many more to come.
I created this at my grandparents' cabin, surrounded by the same woods and beneath the same stars I've been looking at for decades. In a strange way, making it felt like bringing two versions of myself together: the child who could spend hours wondering about the universe, and the photographer who finally has the tools to share a little of what she sees.
A photograph can capture a moment. A time lapse can capture movement—the slow turning of the Earth, the shifting of the stars, the passage of time across a landscape, and maybe that's what makes this one especially meaningful to me. I've spent so much of my life simply looking up. Now, for the first time, I can share what I see.
So this is my invitation to look up with me.
Take ten seconds. Let the world grow quiet. Watch the stars move across the sky, and remember just how much there is beyond the edges of our everyday lives.
There are still so many things I don't know about the universe, but I've never needed to know everything to feel connected to it.
Sometimes, looking up is enough.
