Humboldt County, California The “All Happy Now” earth sculpture by Peter Santino was completed in 2008, but I became aware of it only last semester when one of my students shared a photograph of it in class after an afternoon hike in the Humboldt ...
Milky Way Season Is Coming
Humboldt County, California I remember while camping with my folks as a kid how the Milky Way stretched so prominently across the night sky. It was a special feature of the night that I never saw from the bright lights of home, but it was always ...
The One that Got Away
Humboldt County, California Less than a week ago I read about a giant fireball, visible up and down the west coast from the Bay Area north to Washington as it streaked across the sky. My photo heart ached to have missed that one; I was probably ...
Stargazing Season: Milky Way & Perseid Meteors
Humboldt County, California. Stargazing season is upon us, when the spectacular Milky Way is visible immediately after dark, soaring from horizon to horizon, and the Perseid meteor shower peak is approaching. Of course, one can watch the stars on ...
Counter Culture to Canna Culture
Humboldt County, California. It’s the season for outdoor cannabis growing, and given that it’s also the season for the Milky Way, and I'm in Humboldt County, California, how could I not go out for some nighttime images of the new plants growing ...
Happy Endings at Vista Point
Humboldt County, California. After paying a second nighttime visit to this Vista Point in two years, I can safely say that a dull nocturnal moment rarely passes at this viewpoint looking up the Eel River valley. I had come to the spot precisely ...
Eclipse of the Super Flower Blood Moon
Humboldt County, California The full moon of May, 2021, called the flower moon, was a real doozy: it was a super moon, an eclipse, and a blood Moon — the first Super Blood Flower Moon into which I can ever remember having tuned. So how does it ...
iPhone 12 Pro Night Mode vs Nikon D750 & D850
Humboldt County, California Before I purchased an iPhone 12 Pro, I was curious about the “Night mode” Apple had introduced in the previous model — how good was it? How would it stack up against my Nikons for the kind of nighttime photography I ...
Great Conjunction: Saturn Overtakes Jupiter
Humboldt County, California Racing around the sun like slot cars on an elliptical track, Earth was on an inside line and coming around fast. Jupiter and Saturn were in view ahead. Jupiter was taking a much wider line, and Saturn was lazily ...
Late one Night at Cooks Valley Bridge
Humboldt County Line, California I had never met Lula when she approached me about making some photos of her in my nighttime style of photography. But I was game; placing a figure in an image inspires stories in the mind’s eye of the viewer, and ...
’Tis the Cannabis Harvest Season
Cannabis of Humboldt County The girls are all grown up, beautiful young blossoms in their prime. They’ve overcome tremendous obstacles in their young lives, and now they are ready to spread their wings and change the world. Where did the time ...
Strange Looks at Moonstone Beach Cave
Humboldt County, California A trip to the beach in search of night light yielded a few nighttime views to share from Humboldt’s beautiful Pacific coast. Though most poignant was an image of a dead ray lying on the beach, its tail in the still ...
Ray of Beauty at Moonstone Beach
Humboldt County, California. An odd thing happened while out sifting through the coastal night light for a compelling image. The waxing crescent moon had already set, and the night was dark. My brother Seth and I walked without lights ...
A Timelapse Trip: A Moonlit Meadow
Humboldt County, California A couple of stones’ throws north of the Humboldt-Mendocino county line in rural southern Humboldt County, California, I watched the moonlight wash away the Milky Way and bathe the land in its pale ...
Perseid Meteors 2020: A Comet’s Tale
Humboldt County, California Currently speeding out from the sun after its last visit to the Solar System’s inner reaches in 1992, Comet Swift-Tuttle leaves a trail of debris in its path. Comets are made of frozen gasses, dust, and rock; as sun’s ...
Comet NEOWISE Over California’s North Coast
Humboldt County, California If you have not seen Comet NEOWISE in the northwest skies after dark, then you really must treat yourself. It has rounded the sun in its orbit now, and the farther from the sun it travels the dimmer it will be. Though ...
Cock Robin Island Bridge
The Bridges of Humboldt County Between Loleta and Ferndale in Humboldt County, and a little to the west, the Eel River broadens and wraps itself around Cock Robin Island before depositing its fresh water into the Pacific Ocean. The island itself ...
The Arc of Night over Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Humboldt County, California It was approaching 12:30 a.m. at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park as the Core of our galaxy began to crest the redwoods beyond the meadow, anchoring the band of Milky Way that stretched across the sky from horizon to ...
Isolated Thoughts & Silver Linings
Humboldt County, California During a global pandemic, one might sometimes feel a bit low and disinclined to search for silver linings. And yet at unexpected turns, one stumbles upon them anyway. There has been a lot of time for reflection. ...
Visualize the Night
Humboldt County, California “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need — roads.” - Doc, Back to the Future II. One of the more challenging visualizations for me is to imagine looking at the Solar System from a point above it in outer space, far ...
Steal the Night Away
Humboldt County, California. The big kids in the neighborhood have decided they own the entire block. If you go outside, you’ll have to play what they’re playing. On April 17, 2020, I set out to photograph the Pacific dunes beneath the beautiful ...
Fields Landing Night Sky
Humboldt County, California As long as stargazing is deemed safe in these uncertain times of the COVID-19 virus, I recommend getting out there and looking long and deeply into space. Maybe it will take some of the troubles off your mind, or ...
Snow Moon over Carson Mansion
Eureka, Humboldt County, California As one of the most photographed Victorian buildings in California, if not the United States, the Carson Mansion has crept beyond Humboldt’s borders to seep into our popular culture. Certainly it has added its ...
Shadow of Himslef, the Mysterious Stranger
Humboldt County, California File it under tall tales if you must; I would not be offended. You know that not everything you believe can be true, and not everything that’s true can be believed. And whether or not something written is true may well ...
Eureka’s Art Utility Boxes – Harry the Honorable Hound Dog
Eureka, Humboldt County, California Growing up, I didn’t think of Eureka, California as beautiful. Never mind that I was a kid, and what would I know about that? Maybe I simply wasn’t tapped in to the art scene, I don’t know, but I don’t recall ...
