There are few things that pique the curiosity of night sky watchers more than the moon. Even my son at 10 months old started to point out the moon. If you see it enough it seems anything but special, but the moon is amazing. It’s an amazing sight to witness and an amazing subject to photograph. One thing that amazes photographers the most is that the full moon gives off so much light. The moon is one gigantic r
Photographing the annular solar eclipse recently was a great challenge and a fun adventure. If you’ve yet to photograph a solar eclipse I highly recommend it. Not only is the sight of the eclipse amazing, there is invariably a great energy in the air from other photographers and viewers. This photo was taken toward the end of the eclipse after most people left. A word to the wise and a pro tip: never leave unti
Earlier this year I had a lot of fun working with a client in the mountains of eastern California on astronomy landscape techniques. One of the highlights of the workshop was stopping by the CARMA array and photographing star trails. Temperatures were well below freezing being that we were at an elevation of 7000 feet, but the view was so incredible it made standing in the freezing cold a secondary thought. Reviewing
This weekend was one of the first opportunities this year to photograph moonbows in Yosemite. While it’s always a magical experience to photograph the falls in Yosemite it’s especially amazing to photograph them with a moonbow. The reason is that you can’t see the moonbow very easily with your naked eye as your night vision limits your ability to see color as you might during the day. For most peopl
By day nature is wondrous, and by night nature is breathtaking (both literally and figuratively). When I photograph nature by day I am taken with amazing features and phenomenon that I can easily comprehend my scale and place. When I photograph nature at night, under a blanket of infinite stars, I am reminded how astonishingly vast our Universe is and how incredibly small, fragile and special our world is. It is in t
It’s just about that time of year again when the moon makes rainbows in Yosemite valley. Moonbows are particularly magical because they’re almost invisible to the naked eye due to our limited night vision. It’s for this reason that when you review moonbow photos on your camera (assuming you’re shooting with a digital camera) the end result almost appears to be magical. “My heart leaps up when
One thing I love about the prairies of the United States are the incredible clouds. These amazing clouds provide the perfect contrast to the expansive landscape. In addition they always seem to dwarf the terrain providing an interesting size contrast. Perhaps its because such cloudscapes are seldom seen in the same way here in California, but I’m forever attracted to such scenes. In fact in this instance I caug