Chasing Comet NEOWISE

Normally when a photography project takes up a month of my time, I’ve spent many more months planning it. But my July photo project came as a complete surprise.

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) put on a spectacular display for most of the month — the brightest comet to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere in more than 13 years. Given its magnificence, you might think there would have been plenty of advance notice. Even though I track comets, I had heard of it only the day before I headed out to photograph it for the first time.

Behind the scenes: Bioluminescence, Mosquito Bay, Vieques

Whether you call it Mosquito Bay, Bahía Bioluminiscente or something else, the bioluminescent bay on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques is the world’s brightest. The Guinness Book of World Records says so.

The glow comes from dinoflagellates, which are not particularly rare. They’re a type of plankton and are found in most ocean water. What makes Mosquito Bay special, however, is how concentrated they are there.

The vanishing Milky Way

As we celebrate Labor Day in the United States, we also celebrate the unofficial end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. But the weekend marks more than a transition from BBQs to cooking indoors. The night sky begins its own seasonal transformation. Over the next few weeks, the most visually stunning portion of the Milky Way — the galaxy we live in — will fade from view.

The story behind the stamp: Northern Lights Over The North Cascades

Outside Alaska, the northern lights are a rare treat in the United States, but the aurora captured in this image was visible across most of the country. I’m honored the dazzling display so many of us witnessed that night in our “spacious skies” will be featured on a new pane of U.S. Forever postage stamps to illustrate the lyrics of America the Beautiful.

The legend of the Milky Way

There have always been stories about the origin of the land and the life that calls it home. Before there was science, those stories came from imagination and spirituality. In this series, I have created contemporary nature photography to illustrate them. Read more about my Legends of the Land series.

It used to be that once the sun went down, the sky was completely black. But that ended one night when the biggest dog ever decided to steal a snack from some farmers.

You don't see northern lights like these

I’ve seen the northern lights a number of times in the North Cascades of Washington state, but when I was presented with an opportunity to see them near the Arctic Circle, I knew I had to take advantage of it.

Shoot for the moon

The full moon may provide an excuse for all sorts of crazy activities, but it can also provide an extra special element to landscape photographs. Here are some tips for capturing the moon as a part of a landscape image.

A bright and dusty sky

Every so often, there's a comet that's so bright it can light up the night sky. But a couple times a year, comets that have long since passed by, or maybe even disintegrated entirely, can light up the night sky, too.

The phenomenon is called the Zodiacal Light and it's the result of a giant cloud of comet dust that stretches from Mercury to Jupiter. It's about as bright as the Milky Way and it's visible with the naked eye about two hours before sunrise in the fall; two hours after sunset in the spring.

Photographing the elusive northern lights

For the next couple years, you'll have a better-than-average chance of seeing and photographing the northern lights.

By the light of the moon

I've been out late a lot lately. I've done more night photography in the past couple months than I have in my entire career.

It's not that I'm changing my style or anything. Sometimes that's just how things work out.