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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
Avenue of the Imagination
Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt County, California Imagine, if you will, a journey down an Avenue through corridors of towering redwoods. Between them the stars hang motionless in the sky, while streaking past beneath you fly the yellow dashes of ...
Fading but not Forgotten
Sunflowers and the Golden Ratio in Humboldt County, California I’ve come to embrace the unexpected when I photograph. I tell people when I go out that it’s always an experiment, but I think they think I’m kidding. In part I am, as I am pretty ...
Beauty on the Redwood Highway, US 101
Humboldt County, California I hope my images stoke appreciation for the beauty and wonders around us here on the North Coast of California. Many people never experience so uniquely beautiful a countryside as ours, and too many who live within ...
Eel River Stargazer
Humboldt County, California Not far from anywhere on the North Coast the dark skies and solitude of nature quietly await. People travel great distances to come here to camp and hike in it, enjoying the beauty of our forests, beaches, rivers, and ...
Reflections at Richardson Grove
Humboldt County, California. As you read on your computer or mobile device, remember that you, too, can unplug, go outside not too far from where you are now and experience a night something like the one in this image. I took a break from ...
Eel River Overlook
Humboldt County, California From a protected hollow high above the river my companions and I looked out over a world bathed in starlight, the galactic core of our galaxy reaching upward from the southern horizon and complementing the curve of ...
The Survivor
Ancient Pear Tree in Humboldt County The gnarled old pear tree was struggling to survive, hanging onto the edge of a dried embankment above a little dirt road when my family moved there over 40 years ago. It was small, not much taller than my ...
Avenue of the Giants Guardians
Humboldt County, California The full moon rose over the redwood forests of the Eel River valley, bathing the hillsides in its stark light. It flashed through the redwood tree branches beside me as I drove along the Avenue of the Giants, snaking ...
Vista Point, Humboldt County
Humboldt County, California I am not a huge traveler, but I’ve seen the marked exits up and down the state for Vista Point. It’s a geographical oddity somehow accessible from anywhere, and we are fortunate be home to the world famous Vista Point ...
