Holland, Michigan (2016)
There’s something wonderful about long exposure photography. Only a fraction of the time are you actually messing with the settings on your camera, and most of the time is spent waiting for the exposure to complete. It forces you to sit silently in the dark and just enjoy nature and being outside and pondering the distant pinpricks of ancient light in the darkness.
The closest place to Grand Rapids, Michigan, that I can go to get decent star photos is Holland, Michigan. I’ve often gone out to Holland State Park with my brother for astrophotography. It’s not the darkest place we’ve been for stars, but it’s the closest to home. It’s hard to get far enough away from all the light pollution in Grand Rapids, and Grand Rapids isn’t even that big of a city. But for the easiest-to-reach and best stars without going hundreds of miles away, Holland is a good second.
