October 10, 2024
I’m not a jealous person. I love when other people are beautiful and adventurous and well-adjusted and successful, contrary to petty haters whose lack of confidence pervades all their behavior and rottens their head and heart, poor things. But I’ll admit… when the Aurora Borealis starting showing up vividly near Read more…
August 27, 2024
When the stars came out at City of Rocks National Reserve, I saw the Milky Way right away… a gauzy spread of stars right above our campfire. I set up and used the glowing light of the fire to paint the interesting rock formations around us. This is why I Read more…
August 26, 2024
Running back out to Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve when it was dark enough gave us a sliver of time before the clouds rolled in to capture the vivid stars. And a sliver is all we had left having taken two flights and driving several hours after Read more…
August 2, 2024
Once I settled in at the City of Rocks State Park campground, an unsettled sky darkened the distance. Thunderstorms with bolts that illuminated and crackled beautifully but worried me. I sat them out in the tent wondering if the tent was a careless place to hang out in a thunderstorm. Read more…
June 6, 2024
There aren’t many National Parks east of the Mississippi River. We don’t have the magnificent land formations born of the Colorado Plateau. But we got the the Great Lakes. Indiana Dunes National Park is right next to the gorgeous Lake Michigan. It would be my day and night destination as Read more…
April 8, 2024
For years I had been looking forward to seeing another total solar eclipse. And when I moved out of New York City to Rochester, New York, I was so happy to be in the path of totality. But then, disappointment along with the accompanying excitement of traveling to North Carolina. Read more…
March 12, 2024
I ventured into Old Florida to check out the dark skies. This was the highlight of my quick trip and most definitely well worth it. First, some scenic beauty in the daytime hours. See those tracks in the sand… well I got my rental car stuck in the sand, much Read more…
December 14, 2023
With finally a clear night, we headed to the Bluffs to capture them and perhaps some remnants of the Geminids Meteor Shower. With warm base layers on, we basked in the crisp cold, thankful the automobile traffic would be less so than in the summer. When another car pulled up, Read more…
November 18, 2023
With a finally clear night, we headed to the dark. But the effect of what amounts to a small ocean continues to alter forecasts. Though it is frustrating, we made the best of the clouds, manaing to capture plenty of stars and playing with his daughter’s Fisher Price red and Read more…
September 19, 2023
It always a shock to see how vibrant the stars are at Montauk. Sure, there is also a lot of light pollution at the horizon–but the Milky Way always says “Hi” to me. I like to blame my starry luck on my underwear which is always star-patterned. And in some Read more…
August 20, 2023
Despite the all-day of trickling rain and a sky full of gray, I knew I’d see the stars in the evening. It’s not because I checked the weather, though I did. I just kind of knew. The stars had satisfied every evening I wanted to shoot them. Though I don’t Read more…
August 18, 2023
I’m finally in a new International Dark Sky Park… my 19th!! Great Basin National Park. Despite some clouds, I got some great astrophotography done as I laid in my tent. I have come to find the clicking of my intervalometer comforting as I am camping. The clouds then returned to Read more…
August 16, 2023
And night came at Cedar Breaks National Monument… along with its billions of stars. I spent most of the time of my night shoot in an empty parking lot near my campsite where it was a bit darker than my campsite. That’s my rental car up there. And a gorgeous Read more…
August 13, 2023
It was a gorgeous night with crisp stars… but some wispy clouds persisted to enter the landscape. Still, the night shoot went better than I expected, with the most beautiful Milky Way right outside the door pretty early on. It makes a case for how a gorgeous galactic core can Read more…
July 13, 2023
With news that the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute was predicting the Northern Lights could be visible in New York, we set out for a night shoot facing the predicted view line. And somehow, some way, I got to see the Northern Lights for a second time in my life. Read more…
April 22, 2023
It was a new moon; I had a car… and it was also one of the first recommended nights to see the Milky Way of the season. So despite having a full day under my belt I pulled myself up at 10 pm to drive two hours to the closest Read more…
April 14, 2023
It’s been several years since I visited the first place I ever shot the stars. Though that evening was clear, too many times my plans were thwarted by the mountain’s tempestuous clouds. But we would give it a shot anyway, staying in town to allow for an easy check on Read more…
April 13, 2023
After the mermaid shoot I had another photographic mission in Chimney Bluffs State Park: Star trails on a clear night looking out at Lake Ontario. The stars were crisp even though there was quite a bit of light about. Before my programmed sequence, some foreground shots standing on the bench Read more…
February 24, 2023
Just a photo dump of some travel bits… because I am already missing the road. The night shoot attempt. It is not Milky Way season yet, so the beautiful galactic core is not visible in this hemisphere yet. But I am very much looking forward to its arrival! On the Read more…
September 24, 2022
A gorgeous night shoot within one of the North Fork’s sunflower fields… … these beauties are like no sunflowers I’ve ever seen! With lots of petals in the center, they basked in the night sky illuminated by an iPhone. Even at this late hour, there were many bees getting their Read more…
September 11, 2022
Ok, I promise, dear reader, that next time I take a picture of the full moon I will take a different picture. One where I am compositing two shots to show you the foreground. One that doesn’t look exactly the same as every single one I have taken before. One Read more…
September 3, 2022
A long day ended in Wolcott, New York, where we’d settle in for Labor Day activities. But unfortunately the forecast called for clouds the next two evenings. So I set up to shoot right way to capture what I could… and it turned out to be a fruitful shoot with Read more…
August 23, 2022
At a certain point of my trip I realized how ideal weather conditions were for star gazing. Though I hadn’t intended to, having not brought my tripod, I decided I needed to do a night shoot. I had the time, the transport and Parc Natural del Garraf promised an escape Read more…
August 1, 2022
I found a nice spot next to the lake to shoot for hours undisturbed. Sure, there were plenty of passing cars, but they illuminated the tree tops nicely as they were high above a hill. These clouds look really nice with the Milky Way. I am learning to embrace them Read more…
July 31, 2022
It was kind of a bummer to pass through Big Pine, Bishop, and Lee Vining, thriving stops with plenty of comforts abound, to arrive at the one-horse town of Bridgeport, California. It had little to offer me but an overpriced room with a shared bathroom, overpriced gas and absolutely no Read more…
July 27, 2022
Looking at these shots from my evening at Joshua Tree National Park, I am grateful I pushed myself to darkness when my body was calling for a motel room. I had originally planned to camp near Mojave, where I spent the day in the sun. But the forecast for the Read more…