LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY > AURORA AUSTRALIS, MILKY WAY AND BIOLUMINESCENCE – TASMANIA > Milky Way Over Friendly Beaches (Freycinet National Park)
PURCHASE THIS PRINT – Print Code: AUR5
Print Sizes: S, M, L, Oversize | Postcards
Friendly Beaches in Freycinet National Park are best known for their crystal blue waters, white sand beaches and pleasant weather. Dolphins and seals, as well as the occasional pod of whales, visit the area, while sections of rocks form tide pools abundant with life of all different shapes and colors. Brilliant sunrises dawn over Friendly Beaches, but those who stay around after nightfall will be treated to some of the darkest skies and brightest stars in the world.
Photographer’s Reflection:
“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens…When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:1, 3-5)
I was completely alone.
Darkness began to fall all around me out on the rocks over Friendly Beaches.
I had finished up my evening shooting session and was packing up early. I had a huge couple of days ahead of me backpacking around the Freycinet Peninsula, and I wanted to stock up on rest.
But before I put my camera away, the amazing brightness of the Milky Way caught my eye and beckoned me to take one last shot.
…That shot, which was meant to be my last, turned out to be the first of many…
Wow! I could hardy believe the majesty of the universe lighting up my little LCD screen. A very shrinking feeling soon came over me as I continued to capture this multi-frame panorama.
I began to ponder just how very, very, small I am and how very, very big God is in all of his Creative glory. I cannot fathom a light year, much less the billions of light years I was beholding.
The Bible says of God:
“He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” (Psalm 147:4)
This is an amazing fact, but even more amazing is the verse that precedes this one:
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
Why would a God so big, so powerful, so wise and so exceedingly glorious care so much about such an insignificant speck like me (and you) in the vastness of the universe??? (And quite honestly, I’m not always the nicest or most wonderful speck in the universe either.)
But the mystery is that God does love us and care for us because he created us to be in a close, personal relationship with him. (To learn how to enter into a personal relationship with God, please see “Message”).
In fact, God tells us in the Bible to, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
When I look at the stars I remember that the Creator of the universe is more than completely capable to help us with all of our problems and to heal our pain. All we need to do is ask him and trust in him.
I did a drawing about entrusting ourselves into God’s loving and trustworthy hands: “Leaving it in The Lord’s Hands” (Believer’s Road Series 2).