Catching a clear night during the summer at the CA coast can be a challenge. The coast often fogs over at sunset and into the night. I have made many attempts to photograph the famous Bixby Bridge. But last summer, I was lucky and not only was the night sky clear, there was little wind which made being out until almost midnight much more pleasant. A strong flashlight aided in the light painting since the bridge was quite a bit away. I am pleased to offer this image for inclusion into the alumni group image collection.

This composite photo, my favorite night capture of 2015, demonstrates perfectly a shared love of nature and being together. Life since I met Doug has been amazing. How lucky that we found each other!! Images were taken in August on Pinal Peak, south of Globe AZ.

This is my favorite, for sentimental reasons as much as anything. I try to include one or all three of my dogs in my travels, which quite honestly make night photography in the backcountry quite challenging. For the Perseids I had a permit to go backpacking in the southern Sierras with one of my dogs but when we got over there the smoke from the Rough fire was really bad.

I visited Crater Lake National Park for the first time in 2012. In the visitor center, a photo of the Milky Way arcing across the sky over Crater Lake was on display, and for sale in a number of different sizes and products. At that moment, I decided it was going to be a goal of mine to capture an image like that on my own, some day (or night).

The arch, carved out by the Ardèche River, is 60m (200ft) wide and 54m (175ft) high. It is a very popular canoeing and kayaking area and is heavily visited by tourists. It is usually described as the natural entrance to the Ardèche Canyon.

I live in a very urban area, so much so that you need to drive at least 8 hours away to get good dark skies. Needless to say, I don’t get to shoot night skies often. I’d gotten a couple of okay Milky Ways shots before heading to Arches and Canyonlands with Brad this past spring, but I had high hopes for something better. Alas, Mother Nature had different plans - clouds, rain, more clouds. Four nights later, punch drunk and addlebrained from no sleep, with a broken ever-sinking tripod leg, I shot this pano. I wasn’t sure the shots had worked out at all until I was able to process them. Success! And, I know how to make a shot like this even better next time.

My favorite photo of 2015 was taken in late August on the Icefield's parkway just north of Banff, Canada. It was just after midnight and I had planned a shot using the Star Walk app to frame the Milky Way directly over the Bow Glacier after the moon had set. While waiting for the milky way to move over the glacier where it spilled into the lake. There were two other photographers there doing the same thing. I was taking some shots and noticed that the glacier had taken on a greenish color as I was reviewing images. I turned around and a strong aurora was visible above the trees. Having been to Peyto Lake which was a few miles up the road earlier in the day, I knew that the overlook would be a great vista to shoot from so the three of us drove back up the road and I captured quite a few images of the aurora over the lake as well as some nice time lapse footage. I was fortunate to be there on that night since it had been cloudy for a few weeks and seeing a strong aurora there is not common but that night there was a solar storm and the KP index hit 6. It was also the first time that one of the people that I had met had ever seen the aurora.

One of the wonders of the sky is that there is so much more there than we can see with our mortal eyes. The camera helps visualize a little of this. The Eye of Heaven is seen looking down over the Golden Gate in San Francisco. It is strong and ever-present, but not at all apparent to the casual observer. Each time we are out under the night sky the Eye is up there - visible yet invisible, well known to ancient mariners who used its help for navigating, and known to a fortunate few of us who are able to visualize it in our images.

My nephew and I had planned a week of night sky adventure in hopes of an aurora in Alberta ~ weather forecasts for the area were disappointingly cloudy, but the skies cleared about an hour north of Edmonton. Our first plan (using various tools to scout with no time to visit) turned out to be in the middle of a reservation and not feeling comfortable with the intrusion, we headed north and noticed a sign for West Cove, which sounded like water, and found a boat launch.

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!