The Southland-born hobbyist astrophotographer said beautiful night skies were just a part of his environment growing up in Maitland, a rural community 20 minutes outside of Gore.
His picture, Evolution of Stars, taken from Karitane Beach about a year ago, was selected among the top 25 pictures of the galaxy out of 6000 entries from around the world for the Capture the Atlas Milky Way Photographer of the Year competition.
Mr Chay said there was almost no light pollution where he lived.
‘‘You get some of the darkest skies that you can possibly imagine.’’
He had taken photos all over the world, including in Iceland and Italy, but nothing compared to home.
Mr Chay said what photographers called a ‘‘Milky Way season’’ went from February until early November.
‘‘As you get towards the later portion of the year, you’ll find that the Milky Way core region actually goes below the horizon.’’
He shot two separate frames for Evolution of Stars with different exposures for the beach in the foreground and the sky behind it.
He first attempted the same shot back in 2022 and felt he had significantly improved since then.
For him, the picture was a standout piece in terms of composition among the rest of his work.
He did not shoot a lot of seascapes, but found it helped make Evolution of Stars more distinctive.
