Polaris: Perfect Imperfection

Photographer

Gregory U. Jáuregui

Polaris has been used effectively as our current North Star for navigation on Earth for thousands of years. Did you know that our North Star is the star that sits directly above Earth's North Pole? If you stare long enough, the whole sky appears to turn counter-clockwise around this single point. But if you ZOOM into the bright star above the UC San Diego library, you'll notice that our current North Star, aka Polaris, isn't exactly at the center of the star trails/circles. Although it is slightly off-center, it is the brightest and the closest star to the Celestial North Pole. Its imperfection is insignificant to its purpose and I think that's beautiful.

I took 3 trips to the UC San Diego campus during the month of March 2021. On each trip, I practiced for hours how to capture star trails but with a challenging foreground: Geisel Library. I took advantage that the campus was dark, still, and peaceful late at night (only the Talking Tree could be heard singing or reciting a poem in the distance). A perfect night for Finding Light in the Dark.

This composite image was created by capturing 1,005 images in the lapse of 3 hours. Each image exposure was 8 seconds long. Figuring out how to correctly put it all together took multiple attempts over 12 months! I believe the results are worth it and I hope you do so too.

Print Size & Details

• Printed on professional, durable, and heavyweight photo paper with a Luster Gloss coating.
• The fine art quality paper allows the image to achieve stunningly vivid colors and maximum image resolution.
• A half-inch white border will be added around the printed image.
• The indicated size refers to the dimensions of the full print. For example, if listed as 8x10 inches, then the actual size of the print including the white border is 8x10 inches. 

Shipping

• All prints are made to order from a local and professional fine art print shop in San Diego, CA.
• Please allow 3-7 business days for items to be printed, packaged, and shipped out.
• You will receive an e-mail with a tracking number as soon as shipping is confirmed. 
• Considering pandemic-related delays might occur, allow for an additional 1-3 weeks of delivery time (but I doubt it will ever take that long).