mishinctrl

I have always been enchanted by the night sky, not to use too flowery a word to describe it. I remember star gazing at different points in my life; from the foot well of the rear facing seat of a Buick as my parents moved us from Las Vegas to Portland when I was seven. They started in the middle of the night so they could eat up the miles while five kids slept, or stared out the window at the universe that seemed unchanged even as we transitioned from desert to rain forrest. From state parks on family camping trips, to the rare cloudless evening on the Oregon Coast as a college student, staring up at the stars has always been a refuge, a comfort, and a promise of infinite possibilities. A comfort because no matter how crazy life got, the night sky was always a beautiful reminder of the grandeur of life. It just is, and it is beautiful. A refuge because I could escape any stress by fantasizing – about life on other planets, how far away the characters in Star Wars would have lived, and who I would have been, had I lived there too. And infinite possibility because no matter how big my teenage problems felt, looking at the night sky reminded me that I am just a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things, that nothing in my priveledged life could be as terrible as the problem my mind was fueling, and most important, the stars would carry on, regardless.

The night sky has always offered me some perspective, but it’s easy to lose it through the normal comings and goings of the day. I was thrilled, however, to be reminded of this perspective with some beautiful images and a wonderfully educational blog post from my friend, a talented photographer and architect, Alene Davis. I hope you will enjoy her images and her blog as much as I have.