Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Portsmouth Point

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers.

We hope you enjoy the latest issue of our printed magazine over the holidays. The theme is "Inspiration". Below is the extraordinary image taken by Will Hall, our photography editor, which graces the cover of the "Inspiration" issue, and his explanation of how he achieved this stunning effect.

"The magazine’s ‘Springboard’ theme was built on the idea of inspiration. When it came to choosing what would be on the cover, I asked myself “What’s out there that is inspirational?” I’ve always thought the stars were inspirational, so I decided I would incorporate them into the photograph. The practical side to this image was always going to be complicated, as it involved merging around 120 photos into one. I sat outside in the dark, under a clear sky with a new moon, and took 120 30-second-long exposures. The photograph appears to show all of the stars rotating about one star in the lower right-hand corner. That star is Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star. The result is one photograph showing the movement of the stars over two hours; it enables you to see just how many stars are visible in the sky. It took around six hours to produce the finished result: including planning the most suitable nights, taking the individual photographs and completing the entire editing process." Will Hall