Ideal weather conditions and the spectacular geology of Arches National Park gave me the opportunity to capture a variety of night sky photos that I really liked. But this photo of Broken Arch was my favourite. The arch itself was impressive, and the Milky Way provided the perfect background. Then it all came together as the moon rose above the horizon out of frame, providing enough natural light to beautifully illuminate the scene.

This is my favorite photo of 2015. I took this at Moss Lake in Enchanted Rock Natural Area while on my way to Big Bend National Park for the Perseid meteor shower.
While I like the photo itself, what makes it my favorite of the year is that this was my first solo camping trip and it wasn’t a “Car camping” trip, but I had to hike a little over 2 miles in the summer Texas heat to reach the camp site which was in itself an achievement since I’m not the most fit person on the planet

This one is probably my favorite from this year as it was more than just driving up to a spot and setting up. For a couple of years now I have been wondering what kind of shot of the rare aurora I could get from the Mt Bachelor cone and on June 22, the numbers were looking really good so the time had come to see.

In the summer-time Mt Bachelor closes their gates early in the afternoon so I would have to bike in approximately a mile with my gear and then start an hour + climb up the flank of Mt Bachelor and then finally scrambling up the backside of the “cone”. The “cone” is an ancient lava cone covered in loose lava rock which made the final stretch a 2 steps forward one step back process. But, by sunset I had made it to my perch for the evening and patiently waited. And by pure serendipity, a partial moon would be setting at the same time lighting the foreground landscape.

Since I attended your (Goldpaint) workshop in Crater Lake, I was fascinated by the night sky. I’ve been attempting to capture the northern light with a beautiful scene for long. I found this unique location for very good potential of the aurora scene. With several unsuccessful attempts, finally I was fortunate enough to be able to capture this image and very grateful and satisfied.

Aurora Over Boise. It is fun and a challenge chasing auroras at this latitude. Addicting. It all came together 6/22, the alarms went off and KP was 8! The moon, Jupiter & Venus added to the comp. I could see the sky was shimmering, and there was a hint of pink. In RAW it is nearly this bright, I dialed down Vibrance to -15, and Saturation to -10.

This is my favorite from 2015 because it took a lot of planning, travel, permits/insurance, etc. and it came out 99% (could have used more moon light) as I had planned. I was so excited to be at Cliff Palace overlook and see the Milky Way arching over the ruin as I had calculated those months earlier. I feel a sense of accomplishment because I think the image captures the timeless quality that I was trying to convey.

This is not necessarily my best shot from this year, but I’m pleased with it mostly due to the planning involved.

As those who were on the alumni trip will recall, the weather was not exactly co-operative. (Nor was my airline, who lost my luggage with my tripod.) I stayed an extra night this time but that wasn’t enough, the weather still stayed miserable until the day I had to leave. I booked another trip with a friend to hit Mono Lake and the Bristlecone pine forest, and this time his flight was cancelled delaying our start by nine hours, then the weather turned nasty again… until the day I had to leave.

This is my favorite because I took the information, planning and preparation that I learned in the workshop, to go someplace and use the skill set. It still didn’t come out as planned but I think that’s just being flexible and adjusting to nature. Years ago I wondered how to do this. Now I’m excited that I know how to do this and can go out and explore more with others.

I like this image as it was challenging to shoot and also think creatively to blend everything into a single image, the moon, setting milky way and the fall colors.

First the location was challenging to shoot, i had to sit on a ledge with a 30-40ft drop off on 3 sides and in a 16degree weather. getting this shot in one go was never going to happen, had to shoot the foreground at low ISO for 10Min and the sky was shot with a normal 30″ exposure.

Not necessarily my BEST nor most popular image of 2015, but the most special memory without a doubt! This was shot during my Artist in Residency tenure in the Petrified Forest National Park. After the park closed at sunset and all guests were “escorted” out, I had access to the entire park. This is the “Blue Forest” area, accessed from the teepees and ending up on the Blue Mesa. A trecherous hike in the dark, but worth it!