Hale-Bopp Comet

I loved looking out for the Hale-Bopp comet in the spring of 1997. I first spotted it whilst driving down the Mancunian Way in early March. After failing to see a number of over-hyped comets in previous years it was amazing to see a comet so clearly. The moon always catches my eye on a clear night so to see something as prominant but so alien was facinating. It was also moving to think many millions of people would also be looking at the comet.

I tried several times to take pictures of the comet but I soon learnt "how fast the sky moves". I finally got some half-decent pictures in the first week in April (Pentax SF7, 70-210 zoom lens, 1000 ASA film 5-15 sec exposure achieved by uncovering and then re-covering the lens once the shutter had been locked open.)

This one with me below the comet was done by dashing round in front of the camera, illuminated by the shine from the interior lights of my car, before dashing back to end the exposure.

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