Women in Astro Issues (Patreon)

A few weeks ago, in my Instragram broadcast channel, NightScaper Lounge, I started a discussion on women issues in astro-landscape photography. Of the 1,400+ members of this group, a poll shows that about 25% are women.

I personally care about the experience that women have in nightscape photography. I would like to see more women enjoy this great genre of astro-landscape photography, but there are definitely issues of resistance that they face.

Issues women have about astro-landscape photography: As I've set in on discussion panels with women astro-landscape photographers, these are some of the key issues they have brought up:

• Afraid to go out alone in the night. Since there are fewer female nightscape photographers out there, I have trouble finding others to go out with me. (I personally go out alone in the night, but I'm a man, and this has never bothered me. This is not true for my wife. She's very afraid of going out into a remote area, alone.)

• Worried about encountering night "critters" (bears, mountain lions and "2-legged" bad men).

• "Bathroom" issues. This can be quite inconvenient and embarrassing for a woman, especially in a mixed gender group. I have often seen women in my workshops fail to hydrate themselves properly (resulting in fatigue, headaches and cramps) because they didn't want to have to go to the "bathroom" while we were out at night doing photography with the group.

A poll of just the women in our discussion group showed the following response to these issues:

Resources for Women in Astro:

• Join the Facebook group, Women in Astro or check out their Instagram profile by the same name.

• Devices for helping to solve the ''bathroom'' issues for women in the outdoors.

• WATCH the 2021 Nightscaper Conference ''Women in Astro'' Round Table Panel Discussion video.