Here on Destination Michigan, we know a thing or two about how cameras work, and understand the importance of light in creating stunning images.

While most photographers wait for the perfect light to capture their shots, night scape photographer, Adrian Bradley, prefers the complete opposite.

He seeks out the darkest skies possible, where light pollution is at a minimum, in order to create his breathtaking compositions.

(soft music) - I'm Adrian, an amateur astronomer, and night scape photographer.

Look at a starry night sky, and it just stops you.

It's just one of those like, wow.

Almost like when you see the night sky, it stops you.

- [Matthew] Adrian remembers looking up in awe at the age of seven, and falling in love with the stars.

A few years later, he caught a glimpse of the Milky Way on a clear night, and his attraction was renewed.

That experience led him to an open house.

- And then go to the low brow astronomer open house, and those gentlemen were real kind.

They showed me stuff through the telescope.

I had $30 in my pocket, and I handed it to him on the spot and said I wanna become a member.

- [Matthew] Joining that club strengthened Adrian's desire to spend more time with the night sky, and a kind gesture from a coworker put in motion a newfound passion.

- A gentleman at my job handed me a Canon 30D and said here, see if you can get some night photography with it.

He was an avid photographer, and he had upgraded.

So I said, sure.

DSLR.

I knew a little about it, but a couple years prior, I'm learning about the growing world of astrophotography, and how some of the guys get pictures of objects in the night sky.

So I just try it out.

Trial and error.

And start taking pictures with it.

- [Matthew] Armed with his new to him camera, and newfound inspiration, Adrian sought out to capture what he was seeing at night, and as his talent grew, so did his need to update his camera technology.

- This little thing, this little tracker.

So what this does is it turns ever so slightly, and it follows the night sky, cancels out the Earth's rotation.

If you're gonna do a composite photo, and get a long enough image for all of this starlight to come in, this tracker keeps those stars nice and round.

It follows the sky.

Because the sky does move.

- [Matthew] Adrian's images demonstrate his understanding of weather patterns, astronomy, and his photography tools, though his real talents are knowing how to pick the right spot to capture a night scape.

His favorite location is the Dark Sky Lodge and Tavern in Port Austin.

- The uniqueness of this place really stems from the area that we're in, specifically the Port Crescent State Park behind us.

Our property actually butts up right against acres of hiking trails.

The recent designation of the Dark Sky Park makes this place spectacular, especially at night.

What that designation means is that it leaves you plenty of room to observe the night sky, and there's no light pollution within X amount of miles.

There are certain parameters that the park has to follow, and the local air has to follow to make sure that the unobstructed view of the night sky remains.

- Generally get two or three days for your shot to line up, if you want the Milky Way to be somewhere.

The sky's not stationary.

And you can get up and say I'm just gonna take pictures of the sky tonight, and not know what part of the sky's gonna be visible.

The whole thing rolls over, and something that was over here at nine o'clock is now way over here at one or two in the morning.

So you come out, and I want this to be here, you've gotta plan to be there at the time that it's gonna reach.

I thought this would be a really good indication of how dark it was at Dark Sky Lodge and Tavern.

The composition of all that it was, I wanted, the Milky Way was pointing straight up and down here, so I have it running through in alignment with the side.

I try to make an image that reminds me of what I'm seeing.

So the river's here.

The Milky Way is this wispy thing that's over here, but I know that there's more there.

And so I want to bring that out, and I want to bring all the stars out, but I want the land to look the way that if you stay there long enough, your eyes get adapted.

You'd see all the stuff out there.

- [Matthew] Passion and dedication are traits that benefit Adrian and his work.

He scouts and visualizes an image during the daytime hours, envisioning worthy objects he intends to capture will line up, and conceptualizes his composition.

Then he heads back out at nightfall to create his art.

- As one astronomer told me, your images make people want to go out and see the night sky for themselves, and if that's what my images do, that's as good a goal as any.

It's not about there's Adrian, the greatest imager that ever lived.

Would I love to hear it?

Yeah.

You know, if someone says this image makes me want to go to Dark Sky Lodge and Tavern and see for myself how these skies look, that's a greater feeling.