The Milky Way – Amazing Time-Lapse and Images from Rural Greece

If you've never seen the Milky Way in the skies in any rural part of the world, you have been robbed of one of the most magnificent visions on this planet. I grew up in the southern part of Israel, which is a desert called The Negev. All the kids from my block would gather every summer night, lie down on the ground and just stare at the skies for hours on end. I didn't realize how lucky I was to grow up in that desert. 

Living in NYC for so many years can easily make you forget the amazing feeling of the vast blanketing sky. Filled with twinkles and shooting comets, and that grounding feeling that we are all ever-so-small, and that there's still so much we don't know. It is extremely inspiring. With nothing but the sounds of the wind, and your campfire's crackling, you can take the time to reflect and learn what really matters to you, as an artist, as a human.

"The Milky Way", a time-lapse shot by Konstantinos Vasilakakos, a 22-year old from a small village, Petrilo in the mountains next to Karditsa, Greece, provides an incredible view of the night sky. 

He has been working on this time-lapse since the end of May. His process started by walking for many kilometers, in order to reach the darkest, clearest view of the Milky Way. He spent many sleepless nights outdoors in the mountains, covered in his goat's wool blanket, gazing at the skies while his camera was clicking away. 

Konstantinos lives mostly alone in his parents' house - they are often away, motivating him to go out and create these amazing images for the past two years. His goal is to make more people spend time enjoying the night skies. His aspiration is to travel the world, photographing the different views of the sky. These images are beautifully crafted. Here are some more images from his 500px collection.

I'd say, with this kind of talent and motivation at the young age of 22, he’s got a very bright future.

Here are the tools used by Konstantinos to create this time-lapse:

Camera: Nikon D610
Lens: Samyang 14mm f2.8 and Nikkor Af-S 50mm F/1.4
Tripod: Benro A1980 F
Star tracker: Vixen Polarie

Adobe Photoshop cc
Adobe After Effects CS6
Adobe Premiere CC 2014
LRTime-lapse3

To view more of Konstantinos Vasilakakos's work:

Facebook profile 

https://www.facebook.com/Vasilakakos.Konstantinos

Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/KonstantinosBasilakakosPhotography

Twitter

https://twitter.com/BASPHOTOGRAPHY

500px

http://500px.com/KONSTANTINOS_BASILAKAKOS

Google+

https://plus.google.com/u/0/100895165176754093695/posts

Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/user/PETRILIOTISZOE?feature=mhee

All images and video were posted with permission from the artist.