Over the past seven years or so he has been practicing his hobby and perfecting his craft, posting his snapshots to his blog.
Arguably his most stunning picture is his latest capture of the Milky Way over Santa Barbra, California. Not content with the initial panorama he did something unbelievably epic to transform the image into something so much more.
This is the panorama that Jesse took of the Milky Way from the mountains in Santa Barbra, caught during the new moon. The image is a mosaic of 24 photos, stitched at the edges in order to capture the widest swathe of sky possible.
Jesse ordered a print of the stunning display that measured 72 x 30 inches. On its arrival he was inspired to improve the picture tenfold. However, his vision took a painstakingly long time.
He used a pushpin to pierce tiny holes through the thick matte paper, with the intention of placing LED lights behind it to make an indoor representation of the nights sky. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a laborious task, the monotonous hole-poking took hours on end to complete.
Jesse estimates that there are some 10,000 pricks, or stars, in the finished product. But boy was it worth it! He enlisted the help of his mate who was a carpenter (handy) to build a frame to hold the lights.
The backing was attached, wiring set up and photo suspended between two pieces of Plexiglas cut to size.
All that was left to do was attach the lights and place the photo on top.
The result?
An interactive light display that is beyond stunning.
To top it all off the illuminating LEDs change colour, which makes the plethora of pinpricks shimmer as if they are multicoloured stars as you move your vision across the print.
Fingers crossed Jesse has some heavy hanging hooks because the picture weighs in at almost 50 pounds when all assembled. Now that is what you call DIY done bloody well.
