Star Trails over Rano Raraku

A portrait of a moonlit Moai at Rano Raraku as the Earth turns for 30 minutes. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience as astrophotography isn’t typically allowed here! I don’t think I stopped smiling for one second this entire night. I was granted special permission to be in the park after sunset by the local indigenous community to work on my zine which this image is actually the back cover for.

Easter island is the most remote inhabited place in the world, and on the rare cloudless nights you are treated with a blanket of stars overhead. The southern hemisphere sky makes this an especially magical sight as polynesian wayfinders used the stars to find the island to begin with. Truly awesome.