Mausoleum at Downhill Demesne and Milky Way, Downhill, Coleraine BT51 4RP, UK. Landscape photograph by Patryk Sadowski, finalist in the Shoot The Frame Landscape photography award, April 2021

Finalist Landscape · April 2021

Mausoleum at Downhill Demesne and Milky Way

This august monument, several hundred yards from the mansion house, was erected for the Earl Bishop between 1779-83. It was built in memory of his lordship's elder brother George, 2nd Earl of Bristol, who died a bachelor in 1775. The mausoleum stands between the Lion's Gate and the Bishop's Gate. The monument was crowned with a domed monopteral tempietto, contained a fine statue of the Earl Bishop's brother, in Roman dress, by John van Nost the younger. Neither the tempietto nor the statue could withstand the storms of 1839, since when the fragments have lain around the base of the now stunted monument, awaiting restoration. It took me some time to complete this photograph. It's my first Milky Way image shot at 35mm. The sky was shot separately and was tracked and stacked. My plan for the foreground was to illuminate it using light painting with a drone technique but the wind was so strong I just shot it as is. Illuminated by light pollution from Coleraine, as I was facing Limavady direction it worked quite well. Some technical details: Sky: Tracked - 5 Exposures 180s long at 35mm | f4 | ISO 800 | 25 Flats | 6 Darks | No Bias Stacked in DSS and edited in PS Foreground: 10 Exposures 30s long at 35mm | f2.8 | ISO 200 stacked in PS to reduced noise.