SIGMA 35mm F/2 DG DN | Contemporary, F2, 30 sec, ISO 2000. Star Trail from 272 photos.

For the past 3 years, I've had a photo project in mind, that when the nights get darker again at the end of summer, I will take a longer photo trip to Saaremaa, Vilsandi National Park, in Estonia. In the past, the adventures of the Estonian islands have taken me to the western part of Hiiumaa, but I was drawn to Saaremaa by one specific object with which I had my own photo plans — the Kiipsaare lighthouse on the Harilaiu peninsula.

Both the western part of Hiiumaa and the Harilaiu peninsula in Saaremaa are among the locations in Estonia with the lowest light pollution. The less light pollution, the more magical starry night sky. However, at the beginning of September 2024, everything fell into place. The weather forecast promised 4 nights of clear skies and basically ideal conditions for night photography. Until the last moment, I watched the weather forecast to make sure that everything would be in place, and I finally made the decision to go. My friend Romet (Metaloodus) also joined me on this photo trip, with whom I shared photo ideas that eventually led to one of the most intense night photos that I have managed to capture so far. More on that later.

The Journey

Driving from Tallinn to the beginning of the Harilaiu hiking trail with the ferry ride takes about 3.5-4 hours. From there, you have to take a 3-kilometer hike to the RMK Harilaiu camping area, which takes about 45 minutes if you hike calmly. However, from the Harilaiu camping area to the Kiipsaare lighthouse, you still have to hike about 1.6 kilometers, which takes about 20 minutes.

One of my thoughts was to be able to photograph the starry sky for at least 3 nights. In this regard, it was also necessary to transport some equipment to the camping area. If I mentioned earlier that the weather was favorable with clear skies, the thermometer showed 26 degrees Celcius on the first day when carrying the equipment. A true workout, because in terms of kilos, all the equipment on my back weighed somewhere between 25-30 kg (photo equipment, food, water, camping equipment, etc.).

Basically, if you want to take it easy and not stress, getting to the point where the campsite is, starting out from Tallinn, takes the whole day. 

The Journey

I usually like to shoot the Milky Way at night with various landscape elements with my personal night photography flagship - SIGMA 14mm F1.4 DG DN | Art lens. I've also shot with a 24mm focal length, and in recent years I have started experimenting with larger focal lengths as well. Before this photo trip, I thought that it might be a good place to try something new and interesting. Fotoluks and SIGMA came to the rescue and I brought these interesting SIGMA I series lenses with me:

• SIGMA 24mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary
• SIGMA 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary
• SIGMA 65mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary

First of all, these 3 lenses weighed only a little over 1kg in total. Secondly, they took up very little space in the photo bag, so it was the perfect option for this photo trip. The metal body as well as the metal hood made holding the lens comfortable and enjoyable. With their compactness, they were comfortable to handle and use even in the night. SIGMA somehow knows how to pay attention to these small things that may seem pointless at first, but in fact later you realize that all the details of the lens are very well thought out and this creates a good feeling and trust.

See some sample images down below. 

From left to right: 65mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary, 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary and 24mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary.

Special thoughts in a special place

Finally, when the campsite was set up, we packed the necessary equipment and headed towards the Kiipsaare lighthouse. I had previously been to the Kiipsaare lighthouse 3 times. Twice in the summer with my partner and once a few years ago in November with another close friend.

Every time I start to reach the top of the peninsula, I somehow have an absolutely different positive anxiety. Something you can't even imagine at first. Suddenly, the Kiipsaare lighthouse shows itself from behind the sand dunes on the beach. The last part of the walk feels long, and creates the feeling as if the world has come to an end. The end of the world, where there is an attention-grabbing leaning lighthouse in the sea water about 50 meters from the coast. The feeling of arriving is somehow mysterious and special, and to understand it exactly, you just have to go there yourself and experience it.

Surprising clouds, sunset and the Milky Way

For the first evening, the weather forecast promised no clouds, but still high clouds appeared in the sky. Of course, I was happy about that and the clouds added a lot to the photo. You can follow the various weather reports as closely as you want, but nature still does as it wishes in the end. When the colors had disappeared from the sky, I looked for some compositions in the last light for night photography. After that, we laid down on the beach sand and watched how the stars began to show up in the sky one by one, and finally the Milky Way came into view. They say that the three most relaxing activities are watching a crackling fire, watching the sea, and watching another person do the work for you. I would add a fourth, which is observing the starry sky.

I could start taking photos about 30 minutes before pitch black. I also had a second rented camera body, the Sony a7III, with me, which fulfilled the purpose of taking timelapses on this photo trip. This camera was the first to be set up, and then I headed out to photograph the compositions I had already seen. The first night ended for me somewhere around 3 o'clock when I walked back to the campsite with the light of my headlamp and fell asleep in the sleeping bag in my tent.

SIGMA 16-28mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary - 16mm, F14, 1/4 sec, ISO 100

Sony a7RV, SIGMA 16-28mm F/2.8 DG DN | Contemporary, 20mm, F/14, 0,8 sek, ISO 400

Romet doing some photo magic

Sony a7RV, SIGMA 14mm F1.4 DG DN | Art. Sky: F/1.8, 13 sec, ISO 5000, 15 photos stacked. Foreground: F/2.8, 208 sec, ISO 800, Focus pile from 2 photos.

Time of day

Daytime is vacation when you are doing night photo tours. We hung out at the campsite and discussed the photos we had taken the night before and other thoughts. In the meantime, the Great Spotted Woodpecker and other birds visited the village. I looked through and analyzed the photos I took and thought about what worked and what didn't. Everything that didn't work, you can do better in the following nights. In the meantime, I went for a refreshing dip in the sea on the private beach and I also did a light hike on the peninsula. When I felt tired, I took a short nap to be fresher the next night. Until it was time to go to the photo spot again. 

Private beach and crystal clear water

Sony a7RV, SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary, 400mm, F/6.3, 1/250 sek, ISO 1250

Another beautiful sunset and the next nights

The second night I decided to go to the lighthouse just in time for sunset. When I started to arrive, I saw how the sun had completely painted the sky orange. I took a few quick shots to capture the setting sun with the lighthouse. I grabbed a telephoto zoom lens from my photo bag and waited for a moment when a flock of birds flying in the distance together with the sun and the lighthouse created a good combination and photo environment. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long when I captured the first photos. On the second night, I also had an intense experience. If there are no big expectations and you are in the moment, then nature will give you the most. 

Since I was planning to take photos with the first light the next morning at sunrise, I decided that this night I would stay at the Kiipsaare lighthouse on the beach sand with a sleeping bag for the night. Thanks to this, I didn't have to go back to the camping area after taking pictures at night, and I could go to sleep right away. You also didn't have to wake up earlier in the morning and come back to the lighthouse. Win on sleep and time.

At night, I tried to find as many different angles and shots as possible to test all the SIGMA I series lenses I brought with me. The hilly landscape on the beach gave more room to place taller tufts of grass in the frame at longer focal lengths, which made the photos with the lighthouse a little more interesting. I ended up enjoying shooting with the 35mm and 65mm lenses the most. Probably because I had never photographed at night with such focal lengths before, and the Milky Way was somehow "strangely" special in the photos. Also, these focal lengths brought out the full power of the starry sky more. I really enjoyed the whole shooting process and it was great to gain experience in shooting the starry sky with longer focal lengths through experiments. The lenses fully supported this process. For the first photos, I visually reviewed the drawing of the image critically, and after that there was only trust and the joy of shooting. Finally, when I felt that I had managed to take most of the photos that I had planned, I left my Sony a7RV with the SIGMA 35mm lens to shoot. The goal is to put together a star trails photo later. After that I went to sleep to be ready again in the morning after about 3 hours.

Sony a7RV, SIGMA 65mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary, F2, 6 sek, ISO 8000, 15 photos stacked.

Star Trail from 272 photos. SIGMA 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary, F2, 30 sec, ISO 2000

Photos from the morning

Sony a7RV, SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary, 225mm, F6.3, 1/1600 sek, ISO 400.

The last mission

Before the Kiipsaare photo trip and of course also while we were there, Romet and I both thought about one photo idea in our heads. That is, what if you put a light on the Kiipsaare lighthouse at night and take a picture of this shot together with the Milky Way. The lighthouse itself would certainly be happy, because the light of the lighthouse was last lit in 1992. For a moment, we made peace with this idea and thought that we will see what our intuition says later and act accordingly. Last night, my gut told me I had to do it.

Sony a7RV, SIGMA 100-400mm F/5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary, 183mm, F6.3, 1/1250 sek, ISO 400.

Since I didn't want to leave the lighthouse illuminated for a long time and I didn't want to go back through the sea to the tower several times, the plan was as follows. Romet became a lighting technician and climbed the tower, and I quickly took photos from a distance. In the end, 3 different headlamps were needed to light the lighthouse, which were placed on different levels of the tower. The first light in the tower went out, but it was still an awesome and special sight. Kiipsaari lighthouse shining in the middle of the night and the Milky Way next to it in full glory. After about 10 minutes, the whole party was over and the lights went out again. I managed to take photos with both 14mm and 24mm focal lengths. We packed our equipment and drew the line on the last night shooting a little earlier than the previous nights. With such a last joy and special venture, it seemed like a good time to end the photo tour.

When we had walked a few meters on the beach, I looked back at the lighthouse and thanked for the special moments and memories that nature had offered me in the last 4 days and 3 nights. A small smile appeared on my face because by that moment I had already had new ideas in my head, but more about them when their time has come.

In the morning I woke up earlier because I had to be back in Tallinn as early as possible. I packed up my camp and started walking back to the car at the beginning of the Harilaiu hiking trail. On the way back, the good thing about such photo trips is that the equipment is no longer so heavy because all the food and drinks have been consumed and the your steps are a bit more light.

Thank you Kiipsaare lighthouse, Harilaiu peninsula, Vilsandi national park. See you next time!