Winters in the Pacific Northwest are famously wet, with sometimes weeks and even months of overcast weather at a time. When there is a rare break in the clouds, the coast comes to life and appears to be enchanted. The skies have been exceptionally clear the past few weeks!
Of course, I can't get enough of the moon. I really enjoyed this shot I took while calibrating my telescope during the day before the sun set.
When the air is stable, I can increase my magnification without excessive turbulence and explore the surface. Here's a shot of the prominent crater, Copernicus, and surrounding features.
This is planet season, and the media was making a lot of hype about the so-called "planetary alignment." Although the planets didn't literally align right next to each other, they did manage to span the sky at the same time. In the evening that I took these images, Saturn was about to set beneath bright Venus, Jupiter was overhead, and Mars was rising to the East. Neptune and Uranus were above the horizon, too, but those are much more difficult to find. Due to the unusually clear skies, I was able to capture one of the sharpest images of Venus I've photographed to date. I followed that with a shot of Jupiter next to two of its moons: Io and Ganymede.
The winter is a great time for experimentation, when there are only a few certain nights of clarity. My large telescope, the Celestron EdgeHD 9.25", can be converted from an f/10 2350mm lens to a f/2 500mm lens through a technology called HyperStar. The adapter effectively intercepts the light before it is bounced off the final mirror, shortening the focal length but increasing the rate of gathering light. Hypothetically, it will gather light 25 times faster than the default configuration. I've had a lot of success with previous sessions, but in the past, I was unable to obtain focus with my Sony A7R IV camera, so I was limited in my options.
I finally cracked the code and figured out how to connect the camera the right way. So, I took it for a spin and photographed three different targets. The other two had issues, but this is just 30 minutes of the Pleiades using that setup. This is intriguing to me for imaging dark nebulae when I visit a dark site in April.
I've been experimenting with media as well. My goal with my art is evoke the same sense of awe and wonder that I experience in the moment I am observing. Fortunately, you can view the art from the comfort of your heated home, while sometimes I am huddled in a ball shivering as my camera clicks off a few rounds. A nice, crisp image is always fun, but what else can be done?
My first experiment was a success. I called it "Stealing the Moon." I shot an extremely high-resolution photograph of the moon that I was able to print on metal at 300 DPI. The piece itself is 40" x 60" and on brushed metal, so it literally shines with reflected light just like the moon itself. Here's a look at the piece. I haven't hung it anywhere yet to observe the full effect.
My second project is an experiment to help better visualize the intricate details of nebulae. I chose Thor's Helmet as the prototype, and I was not disappointed. This is the 3D rendering. It's not astronomically accurate - in other words, we didn't map the distances of the stars and use that for depth but instead used the size of the star - but the effect is pretty powerful and provides a new way of seeing the structure of this nebula. The frames from this animation will be the basis for a lenticular print that will appear as a hologram with the stars literally floating suspended above the surface of the print!
Another concept that I am considering is a coffee table book. I took a pass at a prototype called, "The Oregon Coast after Dark." I'm curious what you think? Is this something you'd be interested in? Let me know. Here's a preview of the prototype book I printed.
Contact me if you are interested, and if I have enough inquiries, I will produce a few more copies for sale. Based on my cost to print, I would offer this at $49.99 - 30 pages of over 40 quality prints of Oregon landmarks after dark.
When I have a longer period of rain and no new photography, I often like to revisit my old camera rolls. Sometimes a shoot is so hectic that I only pull half of the quality shots from the roll before I move onto the next project. I've found many hidden gems, including this one: a panorama I took at Yaquina Bay State Park as the sun was setting.
I try to photograph every full moon, and this month was no exception. When I saw the forecast was clear, I set out to determine where and when I would shoot. My tools for this are Photo Pills and Stellarium. Using these apps, I determined that Gull Rock would present the best backdrop, and the ideal vantage point was the Devil's Punchbowl State Natural Area. I arrived at just after 5:30am to scout the location and set up. It was 28 degrees with a "feels like" temperature much lower. My hands were cramping, but I was alone in the parking lot and the view was breathtaking.
Here is a "behind the scenes" view I took with my phone of the camera shooting intervals as a crab boat floats in the direction of the moon.
The resulting photographs turned out better than I expected. The reception was even more overwhelming. In addition to it almost going viral in a Facebook group with almost 10,000 likes and 1,000 shares, many people immediately asked how they could get a print. So, I decided to approach this project a little differently. Instead of curating a limited set of prints, I decided I would make them available at a low cost for everyone for a limited time. From my hand-crafted matte framed prints that I do entirely in my studio, to the high-quality metal prints that are vibrant and crisp, there is an option for just about anyone.
You can learn more about the options by visiting the Snow Moon 2025 page that will be available until midnight Pacific Time next Friday (February 21, 2025). Of course, I continue to work on bespoke creations, and you can request any image you want printed through my Fine Art Request form.
I will keep you updated as I learn more from galleries about upcoming exhibitions and availability. I have at least three places I'll show my art, but I also am proposing a community presentation that will be free and a workshop that will be (I believe) very affordably priced in the summer. We'll discuss nighttime photography, with a focus on the Milky Way, and have labs to go out and shoot and edit the results. It will be fun and informative, and I'll let you know when the details are sorted! I always post the dates of important events on our calendar as well.
Until next time,
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