This image was taken on the first night of my workshop with Goldpaint Photography in Southern Utah. Even though at the time, I didn’t know what I was doing, it remains one of my favorite images from the entire workshop. It is an eleven shot panorama shot around 2:00AM of the moonset. Brad’s meticulous direction and encouragement enabled me to take this image on my first night. Thanks Brad!

This is my favorite image of 2017 due to the serendipitous nature of the shot. I was at the Painted Hills to shoot the Milky Way over Red Scar but while I was there I looked North and was able to visually see the aurora dancing. I then proceeded to stand in amazement for at least 30 minutes watching the beams of the aurora dance back and forth while I continued to shoot including this 6 shot panorama.

It was a difficult choice, but this was my favorite image from 2017, which was taken in May at Toroweap, a remote area of the Grand Canyon. I like the way the Milky Way lies over the canyon, where the walls are 3,000 feet to the Colorado River below.

After taking a wonderful and very insightful workshop with Brad Goldpaint I had the opportunity to capture the Milky Way in Maui, Hawaii. This is a single exposure and the foreground is lightpainted. The Milky Way perfectly lined up with the composition I wanted at this hidden beach, and it truly is beautiful to see the night sky in places that are not filled with light pollution.

This photo was special first because Sandy and I were sharing the Iowa night sky together just as we had many years earlier as kids growing up on the farm. It is also special because it was on a previously poor piece of land my parents bought years ago that was so poor it was named The Goldmine because the top soil was gone and the gold clay was showing.

There is a reason why it's called Hurricane Ridge but on this summer's night, there wasn't one flag blowing in the wind nor a twinkle in a star. As I made my way up the windy mountainous road, I came upon about a dozen large telescopes. To my surprise, several members of the Bremerton Astronomy Club had set up their telescopes for the general public. I took a peek into each one as they focused on clusters millions of light year away. The clarity of the sky was one of the best I had ever seen and I enjoyed the other element that I wasn't expecting.

Here is my favorite night-sky image of 2017. This image was taken at Little Molas Lake, CO during our honeymoon return from Ketchum, ID where Doug and I experienced the total solar eclipse and got married on Aug 21, 2017. What a day!

This is a composite pano from our New Mexico Badlands workshop. I am still in total awe at the beauty of nature in this other worldly wilderness. The light pollution reflecting off the clouds add to the unearthly affect. I am grateful to have been able to see this unusual landscape as well as to share it.

The Gunnison River runs 2500’ below the rim of the Black Canyon. While it’s not a spectacular capture, it’s my favorite this year in part because I feel I’m getting better at foreground captures, and this one was particularly challenging due to the steep cliffs and new moon. This was taken while I was home last summer visiting my dad who passed away just a couple months later, so it has some special meaning for me that way too.

This image is special for me as this was on my bucket list for 3 years and this year I could finally capture it. Traveling from NJ to Grand Junction, driving to Canyonlands, hiking on a route which has no official trail, all in one day to capture this image. The feeling I experienced while camping out here cannot be explained in words. When the stars came the pain in the body vanished and gave me an experience which was memorable.