Kevin Palmer

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  • Distant thunderstorms that resemble cauliflowers begin to build under a rising moon. This was taken from Gander Mountain, which is the highest point in Lake County, Illinois. At the time this was taken, the storms were 30+ miles to the east over Lake Michigan.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: May 3, 2012
    Cauliflower Moon
  • By 2AM the northern lights were not as bright as before, but they still pulsed and flickered in red and green over Devils Tower. Meanwhile the milky way began rising to the southeast in a giant arc. Near the base of the tower I found a cliff where I could see and capture everything in a panorama.
    Aurora Tower and Galaxy
  • Stars rise over Salt Creek in Weldon Springs State Park. This startrail sequence covers shows the stars movement in 73 minutes. <br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 13, 2014
    Weldon Springs Startrails
  • When I passed by this overlook of Seminoe Reservoir earlier in the evening I knew I had to return at midnight. As the milky way first rises it forms a huge arch from the northeast to southeastern sky. The only way to capture it all is by shooting a panorama with my widest lens. Stripes of green airglow crossed the sky and the yellow glow is light pollution from the Denver suburbs 150 miles away.
    Midnight Arch
  • Purple coneflowers bloom in the prairie as a nearly full moon rises in the east.The Nachusa Grasslands give you an idea of what Illinois looked like hundreds of years ago, before settlers arrived and converted it to farmland. 3,000 acres of this rolling grassland have been restored to their original state in this preserve. Less than 1% of the original tallgrass prairie remains, which makes this a rare sight in Illinois. Sandstone outcrops, many varieties of colorful wildflowers, and numerous wildlife make this a beautiful place. A herd of bison will soon be brought in from South Dakota as well. There are few paths in this preserve, so you have to go off-trail to explore the landscape.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: July 10, 2014
    Nachusa Coneflowers
  • The full moon in April is called the Pink Moon. But the name has nothing to do with the color, it's just called that because it coincides with the blooming of a certain type of flower. The color of the moon can vary from red to orange to yellow, depending on the clarity of the atmosphere. While low on the horizon the shorter wavelengths of light get scattered. But as it rises higher the lunar surface shows it's true color. This was also the biggest full moon of the year because it was at it's closest point to Earth, known as perigee. But it only appeared 7% larger than average, hardly worth being called a supermoon. Conditions weren't looking very promising around here since the sky was about 90% cloudy. But I hiked up to this spot overlooking Moncreiffe Ridge anyway. The moon was only visible for a few minutes as it passed through a small gap in the clouds. The plane flying by didn't show up on any flight-tracking apps, so I'm guessing it was some type of military cargo plane.
    Moon Over Moncreiffe Ridge
  • A severe thunderstorm roars across a corn field near Vale, South Dakota. Corn fields are not common in this area, it almost felt like I was back chasing in Illinois. Minutes earlier, 79 mph winds were recorded with this gust front in nearby Belle Fourche. The ragged, detached clouds underneath the storm (known as scud) were rapidly rising into the storm's updraft. I tried to get as close as I could to the core of the storm without getting pummeled by the 2" hail, which my car would not have liked.
    Under the Rising Scud
  • If you have never seen the aurora, you should definitely make it a goal. This was a once in a lifetime show for me as I have never seen a better geomagnetic storm. I was only in Wisconsin but it felt like I was in Alaska. The aurora was pulsating, moving rapidly and it covered much of the sky. Most of my pictures were taken with a 10mm lens which tells you just how much of the sky was filled with color. This was taken from the top of Blue Mound, which is the highest point in southern Wisconsin.
    Rising Intensity
  • Over Labor Day weekend the Earth's magnetic field was battered by a solar wind stream from a coronal hole on the sun, which reached speeds of up to 800km a second. This led to the aurora dipping down to lower latitudes and I was able to catch it 4 nights in a row. I'm always in search of new north-facing viewpoints for picture opportunities. This night I spent at the top of the Judith Mountains in central Montana. Montana always has a better shot at seeing the aurora and being at a high elevation helped even more. The views reached far and wide out over the plains with more mountain ranges than I could count. As it got dark flashes of lightning were visible 250 miles away in Saskatchewan which I didn't even know was possible. The aurora danced all night long, preceded by a fiery sunset and followed by a stormy sunrise. It couldn't have been a more colorful stay on this mountaintop.
    Pillars Rising Above
  • I nearly gave up on seeing the aurora this night but I'm glad I didn't. The thick clouds parted for a brief time to the west as the northern lights brightened. One iceberg was stranded on the rocks while hundreds of others floated past in a blur.
    Lights of a Rising Tide
  • An updraft is a rising current of air that often leads to thunderstorms. The updraft of a developed storm is also the most active part with large raindrops and hailstones constantly rising and falling. As the rain and hail collide, this creates an electric field and eventually lightning. As the sun set, it gave this storm a beautiful orange color and highlighted the details and the structure.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: May 3, 2012
    Heart of an Updraft
  • From comets, to lightning, northern lights, and meteors, I've amassed a collection of photos of one of my favorite local mountains at night. But I lacked a moonshot. The 7,877 foot peak named Steamboat Point is topped with dramatic cliffs of dolomite. You can't tell from this distance but the boulders below the cliff face are bigger than houses. Because of the position of the viewpoints, a full moon can only be seen rising over the mountain in the winter months. Unlike the sun, a full moon rises north of due east in the winter. In January it is called the Wolf Moon. While wolves do not currently live in the Bighorn Mountains, they have been seen before. The snow conditions at this elevation were highly variable with lots of bare ground as well as big snow drifts. After lining up my shot the moon failed to appear on time because a cloud hid the horizon. But after waiting and repositioning at the last minute, the moon briefly passed through a small gap in the clouds.
    Steamboat Moonrise
  • A lenticular cloud hangs above the rising full moon during twilight. It was an extremely windy evening at the Sand Turn Overlook above Dayton.
    Hovering Above the Moon
  • At 1:30AM the milky way was rising and formed a giant arch in the sky. Airglow turned parts of the sky green. I needed a 7-shot panorama (with plenty of overlap) to capture it all.
    Arching Milky Way
  • The crescent moon shines through the colors of sunset over the Pacific Ocean. The seaweed was rising and falling with the waves as they splashed around the rocks. This was taken in Dana Point, California.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 12/27/11
    Moon Over Tidepools
  • The sun had not even been down an hour yet when the first green curtains overspread the blue twilight sky. Why am I not on the summit already? As I hoofed it up a mountain in Greenland, I barely needed my headlamp as the lights above illuminated my way. Route finding can be tricky at night, but I had scouted out this peak the previous day so I knew where to go. Finally I reached the top, and all body heat generated from the strenuous climb was quickly stolen by the icy wind. Below stretched out the Nuuk Fjord, 2nd longest fjord system in the world. Rising nearly 4,000 feet above the sea is Sermitsiaq, the iconic island peak which dominates the skyline of Greenland's capital city. While Mars cast its reflection across the water, ribbons of green, purple, and red shimmered overhead. Oddly the northern lights seemed to prefer every part of the sky except north. For hours the show continued, in waves of varying intensity. It was a night I'll never forget.
    Nuuk Fjord Aurora
  • The Big Snowy Mountains are one of several island ranges found in central Montana, rising straight out of the prairie. But unlike the surrounding mountains in a mostly dry climate, this one has it's own lake. Crystal Lake is interesting for several reasons. It is very shallow and fish do not survive the winter when it freezes solid. The lake bed is made of porous limestone. The water level reaches it's maximum depth in early summer when the snow finishes melting. But then it starts to drain. As I walked along the shore I noticed the water bubbling away in certain spots as it seeped through the ground. By early fall the lake is significantly smaller and in some years it's not much more than a puddle. The color of the water also changes quite a bit depending on the direction and intensity of the sunlight. I liked this turquoise color the best as seen from an overlook called Promontory Point. Next time I visit I want to check out the perennial ice cave which is located at the top of the 8,000' ridge in the distance.
    Turquoise Crystal
  • Waves crashed around my feet as I steadied my tripod and counted down until 8:04PM. That's when the International Space Station (ISS) was going to appear. It was a perfect pass, rising straight up over the horizon, before moving overhead and outshining everything else in the sky. The ISS orbits the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 250 miles with a speed of 17,000 mph. At a cost of over $150 billion, the ISS is the single most expensive item ever constructed. The space station has been continuously occupied for 19 years by astronauts, who get to experience 16 sunsets and sunrises a day. The ISS is easily visible from Earth when sunlight reflects off of it's massive solar panels. Finding a spot in Orange County, California, that's dark enough to see the milky way is not easy. But at this time of year it's possible to look southwest over the darkest part of the ocean, while the rest of the sky is filled with light pollution and few stars. It took the ISS about 5 minutes to pass through the sky. I combined the satellite trail from 9 images with a single image of the stars to make it clearer.
    Up From the Ocean
  • South of Billings, Montana, rising up out of the Bighorn Basin, is the Pryor Mountains. These mountains are home to a herd of mustangs. Some of these wild horses hang out in the lower elevations near Bighorn Canyon, but the majority are found near the mountaintop at 8,000 feet where the grass is greener. Getting here requires traveling a long, rough, and steep dirt road. On my prior Pryor visit, I didn't get all the shots I wanted and was only able to capture the horses in the middle of the day. But this time I made sure to be in the right place at sunset. The views were amazing into the valley below, and the light was magical. The horses numbered at least 60, but I lost count as they moved around. In the last minutes before the sun set, many of them trotted past me. Shooting into the sun created a dreamy look, but I had to be careful not to blind myself.
    Walking Into the Light
  • With both clear skies and a geomagnetic storm in the forecast, I headed north of the border to Saskatchewan. Grasslands National Park is a long ways from anywhere. During the day the landscape seems stark and desolate, especially after a very dry summer. But the real beauty of this park comes after sunset. It is one of the darkest places on the continent. With no sources of light pollution at all, the stars appear the same as they did to the Plains Indians hundreds of years ago. The aurora was already bright and colorful earlier in the evening. But at midnight after the moon set, the northern lights went insane. I've never seen such rapid motion before. If you could imagine a campfire with the flames rising upward and flickering on and off, that's what it looked like. Except instead of orange, it was green, and instead of it being confined to a fire ring, it filled the entire sky. I don't think any camera could fully capture it, it just has to be experienced.
    Two Tipis
  • The High Park fire lookout tower at almost 9,500 feet was the perfect place to watch the April full moon rising. It was a location I scouted out in advance on Google Earth, when I was looking for an ideal foreground to the east. The two peaks are Hesse Mountain on the left and Hazelton Pyramid on the right. If you look closely to the upper right of the moon the planet Jupiter can be seen. Winter is far from over here in the high country. The 3 feet of snow made it a challenge to find a route to the summit since I had never climbed this peak before. But it was much easier on the way down since I could simply follow my snowshoe tracks and the bright moonlight meant I didn't even need a headlamp.
    April Moonrise
  • This bridge crosses a canyon over the Gardiner River. On the upper left steam can be seen rising from the Mammoth Hot Springs geothermal features.
    Bridge Over Gardiner River
  • I waited a total of 9 hours at this location. Early Wednesday morning thick clouds blocked my view of the aurora. The geomagnetic storm got even stronger during the day, and then died down as soon as it got dark. I returned here Wednesday night and was determined to see the aurora. Finally at 12:45 the northern lights brightened and I could see pillars rising up and moving from east to west. It didn't last very long, but I could finally go home happy.
    Northbound
  • During a heat wave I always like heading up to the Bighorn Mountains to cool down. I kept driving until I could go no higher. This highway, (14A) was opened for the season at the end of May and many snow drifts still remained. Darkness arrives very slowly this time of year, so I made some coffee and waited. After 11PM the blues of twilight finally faded away. Nights like this are rare at this elevation. No cold, wind, clouds, haze or anything else spoiled the view. It was perfect for stargazing. No matter how many times I see it, I'm always blown away by the sight of the milky way rising in a dark sky. Glittering star clusters, clouds of dust both dark and bright, glowing nebulae of all colors filled the scene. The more you look the more you see. A star tracking mount was used to counteract earth's rotation, allowing me to capture this highly-detailed image.
    Hunt Mountain Milky Way
  • Not being a morning person, I don't shoot that many sunrises. But it's a lot easier while backpacking with an incredible view as my backyard. I set my alarm for 5AM, took a few shots and then went back to sleep. Rain showers and virga were passing overhead, which was highlighted by the rising sun. Few raindrops reached my tent. But sudden violent gusts of wind sometimes filtered down into this valley next to Lake Solitude. These were unpredictable, coming from any direction. It was a very warm morning for this elevation with the temperature over 50°F. But it was a lot more pleasant up here than in Sheridan where it got up to 98°F later in the afternoon. The willows had yet to leaf out and the aspen trees still had that bright green look to them. Some of the hazards of early season backpacking include tricky stream crossings, water and mud everywhere, and trails still hidden under deep snow drifts. It was going to be a long 12 mile hike out with wet shoes. But it's worth the scrapes and blisters to explore amazing places like the Cloud Peak Wilderness.
    Dawn at Paint Rock Creek
  • Chimney Rock  is a very distinctive rock formation south of Bayard, Nebraska. Rising 300 feet above the surrounding river valley, it is the most famous landmark along the Oregon Trail.
    Chimney Rock Afternoon
  • The twilight sky was beautiful early this morning. A very thin crescent moon was rising over Spring Lake. In the middle is the bright planet Venus. The faint zodiacal light can be seen extending diagonally between the two.
    Zodiac Twilight
  • South of Billings, Montana, rising up out of the Bighorn Basin, is the Pryor Mountains. These mountains are home to a herd of mustangs. Some of these wild horses hang out in the lower elevations near Bighorn Canyon, but the majority are found near the mountaintop at 8,000 feet where the grass is greener. Getting here requires traveling a long, rough, and steep dirt road. On my prior Pryor visit, I didn't get all the shots I wanted and was only able to capture the horses in the middle of the day. But this time I made sure to be in the right place at sunset. The views were amazing into the valley below, and the light was magical. The horses numbered at least 60, but I lost count as they moved around. In the last minutes before the sun set, many of them trotted past me. Shooting into the sun created a dreamy look, but I had to be careful not to blind myself.
    Golden Day
  • Most of the ocotillo plants in Anza Borrego had already lost their flowers. But I found this one on Coyote Mountain just as the sun was rising.
    Ocotillo First Light
  • At 2:30AM my alarm went off after catching a few hours of sleep. The moon was about to set, leaving me with 3 hours of darkness to watch the Orionid meteor shower over Devils Tower. My camera captured this bright streak of light shortly before twilight began. But the fact that it appeared in 2 frames and lacks any colors suggests that it was a satellite flare and not a meteor. The diffuse glow rising up diagonally from the horizon is called the zodiacal light. Also known as false dawn, the glow is caused by the sun illuminating the dust which is shed by comets and asteroids in the inner solar system. This cone-shaped glow is projected against the constellations of the zodiac, which is the path that the sun, moon, and planets travel through the sky. I've seen the zodiacal light before, but never this bright and prominent. It can only be viewed from the darkest of locations, far away from light pollution, on very clear moonless nights.
    False Dawn and Iridium Flare
  • I was in Joshua Tree National Park when monsoon thunderstorms passed by throughout the night keeping me awake. Just before sunrise it started raining. With thick clouds above I was not expecting a very colorful sunrise. But then this happened. The rising sun highlighted the wisps of rain as they fell into the dry air. The clouds cast an orange glow across the desert floor as flashes of lightning streaked across the sky. And a minute later a spectacular rainbow appeared behind me. This entire light show only lasted a few minutes so I had to rush to capture it all. It was the most awe-inspiring sunrise I've ever seen and my pictures could hardly do it justice.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Raining Fire
  • With both clear skies and a geomagnetic storm in the forecast, I headed north of the border to Saskatchewan. Grasslands National Park is a long ways from anywhere. During the day the landscape seems stark and desolate, especially after a very dry summer. But the real beauty of this park comes after sunset. It is one of the darkest places on the continent. With no sources of light pollution at all, the stars appear the same as they did to the Plains Indians hundreds of years ago. The aurora was already bright and colorful earlier in the evening. But at midnight after the moon set, the northern lights went insane. I've never seen such rapid motion before. If you could imagine a campfire with the flames rising upward and flickering on and off, that's what it looked like. Except instead of orange, it was green, and instead of it being confined to a fire ring, it filled the entire sky. I don't think any camera could fully capture it, it just has to be experienced.
    Tipi Aurora
  • At 5am fog was slowly rising from the Rock River after an unseasonably cool night. Once the sun rose, it cast a warm glow across the river valley. This was taken at Castle Rock State Park, which sits on a 100 foot high bluff near Oregon, IL.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: July 11, 2014
    Castle Rock Sunrise
  • At 5am fog was slowly rising from the Rock River after an unseasonably cool night. Once the sun rose, it cast a warm glow across the river valley. This was taken at Castle Rock State Park, which sits on a 100 foot high bluff near Oregon, IL.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: July 11, 2014
    Rock River Dawn
  • On this January night the moon was 3 days past full which means it didn't rise until 3 hours after sunset. When the moon crested the horizon it was dim and orange, for the same reason that the sun is orange when it first rises. Because earth's atmosphere is thicker at the horizon, it absorbs blue wavelengths of light and lets warmer colors shine through. This view is from the mountains west of Sheridan, whose lights can be seen glowing on the left. This entire mountainside along Red Grade Road burned in a wildfire nearly 10 years ago. But even dead trees can look photogenic in the right light.
    Moment of Moonrise
  • Death Valley in California is a land of extremes. On my last morning there I shot the sunrise from Dante's View. From this incredible viewpoint Badwater Basin can be seen, which at 282 feet below sea level is the lowest place in North America. The basin is also consistently the hottest place on Earth. High's in the 120's and lows in the 90's are not uncommon here in the summer. Even in November it was 95°F while I was here. The average annual rainfall is less than 2 inches. In the distance beyond the extensive salt flats rises the Panamint Range up to the 11,049 feet high Telescope Peak. From valley to summit, only one other mountain in the continental US has a greater vertical rise (Mt. Rainier). The previous evening I shot the sunset from Badwater Basin, and the evening before that from the summit of Telescope Peak.
    Dante's View
  • These bizarre sandstone rock formations rise up out of the eastern Montana prairie. They turned gold as the sun set.
    Medicine Rocks Sunset
  • My 9-hour flight home was one of the most scenic I’ve ever been on. Taking off from Helsinki at sunset, we chased the sun westward. Meanwhile the full moon emerged to the east and followed the plane. In a state of perpetual twilight, the light remained the same for hours. The moon neither rose nor set and it felt like time was standing still. At the top of the world, just 250 miles from the North Pole, the scene was most striking. 7 miles below was Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’s largest national park. The ice sheet emptied out into the Arctic Ocean between pristine snowy mountains. Moonlight shimmered across fresh sea ice, fractured by undersea currents. The moon was directly in the middle of what’s called the anti-twilight arch. The pink band above is the layer of atmosphere where the sun was still shining, reddened by the backscattering of sunlight. The blue band is Earth’s shadow projected out into the atmosphere. In mid-October the sun sets for good in this part of the high Arctic, not to rise again for more than 4 months.
    When Time Stood Still
  • In December I spent a few days exploring Joshua Tree National Park. Compared to the hustle and bustle of most of Southern California this desert park is roomy, quiet, and peaceful. Even though I grew up fairly close, this was only my second time visiting. A mile above sea level in the Little San Bernardino Mountains, Keys View is one of the best viewpoints in the park and a great place to watch the sunset. A hidden trail leads up to Inspiration Point where this was taken. Far below on the floor of the Coachella Valley the infamous San Andreas Fault is visible. Over 10,000 feet above that is the snowcapped San Jacinto Peak. Few mountains in the US have a steeper rise. Higher still is San Gorgonio Mountain on the far right, which is the very top of Southern California at 11,500 feet.
    Overlooking Coachella Valley
  • At first it had the appearance of puffy clouds on the southeast horizon. Then as it rose higher the Milky Way revealed more detail. The clouds were made not of water vapor, but of stars too numerous and densely packed to resolve individually. The bright core of the galaxy is split in two by a dark lane of cosmic dust known as the Great Rift. The Milky Way was soon followed by the rise of Jupiter, and then Saturn. Meanwhile shooting stars periodically flashed across the sky during the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower. The Lyrids are the oldest known meteor shower, first observed 2700 years ago. Of the 15 meteors I captured, this one was the brightest. Devil’s Kitchen is a small basin containing badlands-type terrain, but it may as well have been another planet. It’s a barren wasteland located on the west side of the Bighorn Mountains filled with fascinating geologic formations of all different colors. When I first found it last summer I knew I had to return to shoot it at night.
    Night at Devil's Kitchen
  • Stars rise above Black Mountain on a cold winter night.
    Black Night
  • Among the forests at the rim of the Grand Canyon lives a large population of elk. They have lost their natural fear of humans, and will often approach at close range. This can lead to dangerous encounters especially during rutting season in the fall or when there are calves to protect. Late one morning this elk wandered through my campsite looking for food. I saw her rise up on her hind legs to get to the hard to reach parts of the juniper trees. Her balance was impressive and when she did it a second time I was ready with my camera. The average elk cow weighs 500 pounds and consumes at least 15 pounds of food per day.
    Standing Elk
  • It rained most of the morning at my campsite on Lost Twin Lake in the Cloud Peak Wilderness. The cold rain was at times accompanied by thunder and lightning, gusty winds, and graupel (snow pellets). Nearby waterfalls grew louder and the sound of a distant rock slide echoed across the lake. My plan of summiting Darton Peak would have to wait for another day. After the last rain shower, the clouds descended and obscured the highest peaks. I took this picture while enjoying a cup of hot coffee as the rain finally stopped. It's difficult to convey just how massive these cliffs are. The sheer granite walls rise 1-2 thousand feet above the lake. If you can see the white speck at the base of the cliff on the right, that is a tent. The top of this bowl-shaped valley, known as a cirque, was carved out by glaciers long ago.
    Clouds Descended
  • It had been 7 months since I've even heard thunder here in Wyoming. But early May finally brought the first decent thunderstorm of the year. Throughout the evening clouds built up over the Bighorn Mountains before the storm descended and hit Sheridan after 8PM. The high moisture content combined with late evening sunlight behind the storm gave the clouds a greenish-blue tint. The storm wasn't severe, but it brought frequent lightning, small hail, and a drenching rain that made the already flooded Big Goose Creek rise even higher. The photogenic shelf cloud ahead of the rain core showed some impressive structure as it was sculpted by wind shear above.
    Big Goose Storm
  • The sun sets over a tide pool in Laguna Beach, California. Underneath the water are hermit crabs, sea anemones, and other sea creatures stranded until the waves rise again. I came here at low tide during a full moon, so the tide doesn't get much lower than this. Normally this part of Victoria Beach would be difficult to access as much of it would be underwater. Both low and high tide occur twice a day approximately 6 hours apart. During a full moon or a new moon the tides are especially high and low. The gravitational force of the sun and the moon combine to generate more of a pull on earth's oceans. This is called a spring tide. But during a quarter moon, the moon is at a right angle with the earth and the sun and there is less variation between high and low tides. This is called a neap tide.
    Laguna Tidepool Reflection
  • The Nuuk Fjord contains many dramatic pointy mountains that rise up to 5,000 feet out of the sea. They were especially beautiful at sunrise.
    Sunrise Over Qingaq
  • To the local rancher it might just be a random spot on the dirt road they drive everyday. But to me it was a place I had scouted out in advance after studying topo maps, to find the best north-facing view of the Crazy Mountains. Located in Central Montana, the Crazies are always an eye-catching sight. As the highest and most prominent of the state’s many island mountain ranges, it’s jagged peaks rise straight up out of the prairie and pierce the sky. The Crazies are sacred to the local Crow Tribe, and considered ominous and unpredictable. Somewhere up there is an old tripod of mine that mysteriously vanished one night. After a fiery sunset, the clouds cleared and Comet NEOWISE soon appeared. Before it rapidly faded, mid-July was the best time to view the comet. With no interference from moonlight, the enormous dual tails of NEOWISE were visible in all their glory. The blue ion tail consists of gases ionized by UV light and influenced by the magnetic field of the solar wind to point in a straight line. The white dust tail on the other hand, consists of neutral dust particles that are more widely dispersed.
    Crazy Comet
  • This area of the Delta River Valley was extremely windy during my time here. At the cabin I was staying at the winds bent the chimney and blew open the door multiple times. The southerly winds also made temperatures rise into the 40's the next morning and melted the snow in a matter of hours. Yet a few miles away it was calm. Wind is always tough to capture, but this was the best I could do, showing snowflakes blowing sideways.
    Windy Delta Overlook
  • Medicine Rocks State Park in eastern Montana is a great place to shoot nightscape photos. Lots of interesting sandstone rock formations rise out of the prairie, and the full moon provided illumination. This picture was part of a time lapse. I shone a light on the other side of the rock to make it glow inside.
    Like Swiss Cheese
  • The High Park Lookout is 1 of 3 fire lookout towers in the Bighorn Mountains. I snowshoed up here to watch the sunset and the rise of the full moon.
    Boarded Up
  • On my way back from Yellowstone, I stopped at Four Dances Recreation Area, to shoot the sunset. Here cliffs rise up to 500 feet above the Yellowstone River. The best view is looking south, away from Billings.
    Four Dances Cliff
  • The Tetons glow in the light of sunrise on a frosty morning while the Snake River flows quietly below. It is this exact view that I used to create my logo/watermark. One of the reasons the Tetons are so majestic is because this range has no foothills. The mountains rise abruptly 7,000 feet above the valley floor in only about 3 miles. On long winter nights cold air tends to slide down the steep slopes and becomes trapped under an inversion layer in the Jackson Hole Valley. With the Tetons to the west, Absarokas to the north, and the Gros Ventre mountains to the east, the air has nowhere to go. This leads to some seriously cold temperatures. In the last month alone it has reached -20°F or colder on 7 mornings. In 1933 the temperature here dropped to a bone-chilling -66°F, making it among the coldest temperatures ever measured in the US outside of Alaska.
    Winter Teton Sunrise
  • The Tetons glow in the light of sunrise on a frosty morning while the Snake River flows quietly below. It is this exact view that I used to create my logo/watermark that I put in the corner of every picture I upload. One of the reasons the Tetons are so majestic is because this range has no foothills. The mountains rise abruptly 7,000 feet above the valley floor in only about 3 miles. On long winter nights cold air tends to slide down the steep slopes and becomes trapped under an inversion layer in the Jackson Hole Valley. With the Tetons to the west, Absarokas to the north, and the Gros Ventre mountains to the east, the air has nowhere to go. This leads to some seriously cold temperatures. In the last month alone it has reached -20°F or colder on 7 mornings. In 1933 the temperature here dropped to a bone-chilling -66°F, making it among the coldest temperatures ever measured in the US outside of Alaska.
    South, Middle, and Grand Teton B&W
  • In mid-September I went backpacking at Crystal Lake. This small lake is located at the edge of treeline at nearly 10,000 feet in the Bighorn Mountains. It was a chilly night with frost forming on my tent immediately after sunset. But soon after that the full moon began to rise out of sight to the east, illuminating the peaks to the west. Across the lake a waterfall tumbled down the cliffs and an early snow lingered above a rockfall of massive boulders. I left my wider lens behind, so I had to shoot a panorama to capture everything.
    Crystal Clear
  • Lost Valley in Arkansas is full of wonders such as towering cliffs, massive boulders, caves, and, waterfalls. This picture was taken inside a natural bridge, looking out at the colorful forest. During the dry season Clark Creek flows underground. The water comes to the surface at the other side of this natural bridge. It flows through and then ends in this pool where it seeps back under the earth. Even though it was raining quite a bit on this evening it didn't make the creek rise any higher.
    Under the Bridge
  • Two horses graze in a field in Grand Teton National Park. The dramatic and jagged Grand Tetons rise over 7,000 feet above the Snake River Valley.
    Morning Graze
  • Shooting stars fill the sky during the Geminid meteor shower above the Mississippi River Valley. In the 2 hours after the moon set, I counted about 90 meteors. I also enjoyed watching Comet Lovejoy rise through binoculars and with the naked eye. The comet and it's tail can be seen over the haze on the lower right. I couldn't have asked for better weather for this meteor shower. Wind chills were -15 the night before, and a big snowstorm was arriving in the late morning. But in between the skies were clear with mild temperatures in the mid-20's.<br />
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Date Taken: 12/13/13
    Gifts from Gemini
  • The sun peaks over the horizon as seen from Shoshoni Point. It was only visible for a minute and then I had to wait for it to rise above the cloud deck again.
    Here Comes the Sun
  • It rained most of the morning at my campsite on Lost Twin Lake in the Cloud Peak Wilderness. The cold rain was at times accompanied by thunder and lightning, gusty winds, and graupel (snow pellets). Nearby waterfalls grew louder and the sound of a distant rock slide echoed across the lake. My plan of summiting Darton Peak would have to wait for another day. After the last rain shower, the clouds descended and obscured the highest peaks. I took this picture while enjoying a cup of hot coffee as the rain finally stopped. It's difficult to convey just how massive these cliffs are. The sheer granite walls rise 1-2 thousand feet above the lake. If you can see the white speck at the base of the cliff on the right, that is a tent. The top of this bowl-shaped valley, known as a cirque, was carved out by glaciers long ago.
    Clouds Descended B&W
  • The Loess Hills are located in Western Iowa and rise hundreds of feet above the surrounding farmland. Murray Hill is one of the most scenic overlooks in the area with views of the Missouri River and into Nebraska.
    Loess Hills Morning
  • Early on this morning the aurora once again returned to the skies of Wyoming. I went out stargazing with low expectations of seeing it. Statistically March is the most geomagnetically active month of the year. Magnetic field lines from the sun have an easier time connecting with Earth in the weeks surrounding the equinoxes. It only takes a slight uptick in the solar wind or a brief southern tilt of the magnetic field for the northern lights to brighten up. That's what happened at 10PM, and again after 1AM. Most of the time it was a "deep-sky aurora," which means it was too dim to see with my eyes, but it showed up on camera with a long-exposure. Although it did barely cross the threshold of naked eye visibility when I watched pillars rise up and dance around for a few minutes. After melting during the day, the sound of new ice shifting and crackling echoed across Lake DeSmet on this frosty night.
    Aurora and Ice
  • In Medicine Rocks State Park, sandstone bluffs rise out of the prairie, formed into all kinds of interesting shapes by the wind.
    Prairie Monolith
  • Fog moves around a field as the milky way galaxy rises higher in the sky. This was taken near the Iowa and Missouri border in some of the darkest skies in the entire midwest. The only evidence of light pollution was in the yellow clouds lit up by a small town 15 miles away. The green dots on the bottom right are from a firefly fleeing the scene.
    Humid Summer Night
  • Vivid fall colors fill the valley of the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This state park preserves one of the largest areas of wilderness left in the Midwest The steep cliffs known as The Escarpment rises 500 feet above the Lake of the Clouds. It is a fitting name since I never did see this lake without a cloudy sky above it. On the other side of the cliffs is Lake Superior. It can just barely be seen in between two hills at the top of the picture. This picture was taken at the beginning of a 28 mile backpacking trip into the wilderness.<br />
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Date Taken: 9/30/14
    Escarpment View
  • The view from Tolmie Peak is spectacular, or at least it would be without the smoke. Eunice Lake sits in a valley below, while Mount Rainier rises above the forested ridges.
    Rainier Above the Smoke
  • Ever since I saw this mountain engulfed by a storm earlier in the summer, I was hoping to have a chance to get some better pictures of it. There's something about a lone isolated mountain that's just begging to be photographed under the stars. There are at least 10 Square Buttes in Montana, and this one isn't even the most popular. That makes it hard to find information on it. In case you didn't know, a butte is a flat-topped mountain with steep sides. This particular Square Butte rises 2600 feet above a town with the same name and a population of 20. Finding the right spot to place my tripod isn't always easy. I needed to be NNE of the butte, not too close and not too far with no hills or anything else in my way. There was no time to waste since the milky way and Jupiter were in position as soon as it got dark. The milky way won't be visible for too much longer before it passes behind the sun for the winter. To get a sharper picture I took a 12-minute exposure of the mountain and combined it with a shorter exposure of the sky.
    Galactic Butte
  • The sky turns a bright red as the sun rises at Glacial Park, Illinois. The colorful sky is reflected in Nippersink Creek.
    Nippersink Dawn
  • In December the constellation Orion rises in the east immediately after sunset. While camping in Joshua Tree National Park, I picked a campsite that faced a boulder formation in that direction. When clouds moved in, I wasn’t sure I would get any pictures. But then a small gap appeared, leaving halos around the brighter stars. The red supergiant star Betelgeuse is visible in the center. It is one of the largest stars in the Milky Way, 1400 times the size of the sun. It's also a variable star, which means the brightness changes regularly. But in recent days it has been attracting attention because it’s currently dimmer than ever recorded before. Betelgeuse is at the end of its stellar life cycle and when it goes supernova its brightness in Earth's sky will rival that of the full moon. Since the star is 640 light years away, it may have already exploded centuries ago. But the likelihood of seeing a supernova anytime soon is still very small and they remain unpredictable.
    Boulders of Orion
  • The sun rises beyond Castle Rock on the eastern Montana prairie. The sun was only visible for a couple minutes on this mostly cloudy morning. As far as I know Castle Rock is the only rock formation in this state park that has a name.
    Sunrise at Castle Rock
  • It was 17 miles completed, with 6 more to go on the longest hike I've ever done. It's hard to appreciate the size and depth of the Grand Canyon without seeing it from within. From many of the viewpoints along the rim, you can't even see the bottom because the canyon is so deep with many layers. The park service advises against hiking to the bottom and back in the same day, but it's not impossible with the right planning and preparation. And a dayhike was my only option since I lacked a backcountry permit. On my way back up the Bright Angel trail, I made a detour to Plateau Point, where I found this sweeping view of the Colorado River. The river flows 1400 feet below this point, while the rim rises 3-4 thousand feet above. The upper portion of the trail was the most brutal part with 35 switchbacks in the last 3 miles. The weather was as nice as it could have been, with the temperature swinging from the 20's to 80°F during the course of the day.
    Plateau Point Panorama
  • It was 1AM and the stars were twinkling wildly above the Bighorn Mountains. Twinkling (also known as scintillation) is caused by the earth's atmosphere bending or refracting starlight. Planets do not twinkle because they are not a pinpoint source of light. The effect is most noticeable on nights with strong winds and differing air temperatures in the upper atmosphere. The wind chill on this night at 7,000 feet was far below zero Fahrenheit. In the center of the photo is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. It is visible from anywhere on earth except for the very northern Arctic. Sirius is known for twinkling a rainbow of colors when it first rises. On the upper right is the constellation Orion with the bright band of the winter milky way to the left.
    Sirius-ly Cold
  • A soft pink glow hangs in the east as seen from Telescope Peak, the top of Death Valley National Park. The views from this 11,049 feet high mountain are outstanding. Nowhere else can you see both the highest and the lowest point in the continental US. On the upper slopes of the Panamint Range grow bristlecone pines, a tree with a lifespan measured in millennia. The pink glow in the sky is known as the Belt of Venus, and it's caused by the backscattering of reddened light from the setting sun. The blue band beneath it is the shadow of the earth projected out onto the earth's atmosphere. If I had taken a panorama you could see that this shadow is curved, matching the curvature of the earth. This phenomena can be seen on any clear evening in the east after the sun sets (or in the west before the sun rises). But the colors were especially vivid here, above all the dust and aerosols in the lower atmosphere. I wanted to stay on the summit to watch the stars come out, but I still had to hike 8 miles and descend 3600 feet to get back to the Thorndike Campground where I started.
    Highest to Lowest
  • Steam rises from the Illinois River as a new day dawns at Starved Rock State Park. The steam is formed due to the near 40 degree difference between the air temperature and the water. The subzero air caused the steam to turn to frost on the small grassy island.<br />
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Date Taken: 12/24/13
    Icy Steam
  • Mount Moran rises above the frosty Snake River Valley as seen from near Cunningham Cabin.
    Moran From Cunningham
  • Devils Tower rises dramatically above the pine forest and grasslands of Northeast Wyoming. Towering almost 1300 feet above the Belle Fourche River at the edge of the Black Hills, this monolith is thought to be volcanic in nature. About 4,000 people climb the National Monument every year. The best view at sunset is found to the north on the Joyner Ridge Trail, where this was taken.
    Golden Monolith
  • The sun rises over Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge on a frigid winter morning. Since the water froze rapidly the day before, it created interesting patterns in the ice. Despite the subzero windchill, numerous wildlife were out on this morning. On the other side of the lake coyotes, bald eagles, geese, and other birds could be seen.<br />
Date Taken: 12/7/13
    Frigid Emiquon
  • In January I went out to capture one of my favorite photogenic trees late at night. It sits by itself in a field near a small abandoned house. Cassiopeia, one of the most recognizable constellations, is like a celestial clock. In 23 hours and 56 minutes it will make one rotation around the North Star. But unlike a clock, it spins counterclockwise. When closest to the horizon the 5 brightest stars make the shape of a W, but when it's highest overhead it looks like an M. From anywhere above 35°N, Cassiopeia is circumpolar. That means the constellation neither rises nor sets, always staying above the horizon. In order to get a sharper picture I shot a 12-minute exposure of the foreground, and the tree branches didn't even move an inch. Windless nights are quite rare during winter in Wyoming.
    Night On the Homestead
  • The milky way galaxy rises above Black Mountain while a Lyrid meteor pierces the sky.
    Milky Way and Lyrid
  • A spire rises above the grassland along the Castle Trail in Badlands National Park.
    Badlands Spire