Discover your New Superpower: We launch a lockdown challenge

The Countryside Charity, CPRE Sussex is sharing some ‘superpower’ secrets to mark the launch of a new children’s competition

The charity’s ‘Night Vision’ photographic competition aims to encourage youngsters to explore the night time world on their doorstep and to photograph what they see.

To mark the launch, the charity is offering a free online course which is available to anyone who is interested in learning how to take night time photographs using their own camera or an ordinary smart phone.

“At this time of the year most of us shut our curtains when it gets dark,” says CPRE Sussex Director, Kia Trainor, “and yet there is still so much to see outside – from the stars in the sky to the many nocturnal animals living in our gardens.”

“We are encouraging children of all ages to get out into their garden at night, or to watch the night world from their window and to send us photos of what they have seen.”

To help the young photographers to discover their own night vison ‘superpowers’, the charity has created a Night Photography course which gives simple, easy to follow advice.

The course is run by local artist and environmentalist, Steve Geliot who says exploring the world at night really can give you superpowers:

“When you are outside at night your brain starts working in a completely different way,” he explains. “Your eyes, which normally use the “cone” cells in the centre retina to resolve colour and detail in daylight switch to “rod” cells, which are spread right out and just detect light. So your visual perception at night is a bit like putting a wide-angle lens on a camera. Your hearing becomes more acute, too.”