As a child, the first star constellation I learned was the Big Dipper – I think if people know just one constellation here up north, then it’s the Big Dipper. After that, I learned Cassiopeia and then I was proud to find the Polar Star. I added more and more constellations to my casual astronomy observations until one dark winter evening… there he was, the hunter. Orion. Once you learn to recognise Orion, you can never forget it.

A few years ago on a trip to the south-west USA, we spent a night under the stars in Monument Valley. I was lying there in my sleeping bag and looked up… at Orion. It was magnificent. I felt regret for having to remove my glasses to finally go to sleep.

In order to catch Orion in the early winter, you have to stay up late. During the winter it keeps rising earlier and earlier though, so now it’s already in full view by the time I get home. Tonight it was clear skies so I headed to an opening where I could get a free view south-east with some treetops as foreground interest. I’m not an experienced night-time photographer so I had to do some testing, I think it’s safe to say that these are such photographs that I wouldn’t take if it weren’t for digital. I worked out the composition by half-guessing it at first, shooting the frame and then checking the preview to see which way I have to adjust! But even then, I had to reluctantly crop the image for a balanced presentation. Weather permitting, I have another date with Orion tomorrow…