Michael Wilkins
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Night photograph of the small stone Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo, lit low against a deep green-blue sky filled with stars, tussock grass and a low stone wall in the foreground.

The Church of the Good Shepherd

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand · March 2018

1D X Mark II, 22 millimetres, f 2.8, 15 seconds, ISO 2000

Tekapo is a dark sky reserve. This is why.

The Mackenzie Basin is an International Dark Sky Reserve — outdoor lighting is restricted by law for hundreds of square kilometres — and this small stone church sits in the middle of it, which is why it has become the most photographed building in New Zealand after dark. Lit only by what was spilling from the car park, exposed long enough to hold the stars but not so long that they trail.