Kevin Palmer

  • Portfolio
  • Time Lapse
  • About
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area
  • Links
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
x

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
67 images found
twitterlinkedinfacebook

Loading ()...

  • The Big Horn fireworks display is seen with Blacktooth Mountain in the background.
    Fireworks Under Blacktooth
  • For most of the night the northern lights glowed brightly to the north. But it was just a green band that didn't show much movement. Then at 2AM the sky exploded into color, with purple pillars reaching all the way up to the zenith. I've seen the northern lights dozens of times, but this was only the 3rd time I've seen them reach that high. Unfortunately 2AM is when I decided to change locations so I missed out on the best part of the show.
    Bursting With Color
  • For most of the night the northern lights glowed brightly to the north. But it was just a green band that didn't show much movement. Then at 2AM the sky exploded into color, with purple pillars reaching all the way up to the zenith. I've seen the northern lights dozens of times, but this was only the 3rd time I've seen them reach that high. Unfortunately 2AM is when I decided to change locations so I missed out on the best part of the show.
    Subsiding Substorm
  • 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
  • Every tidal cycle brought something different. An endless stream of icebergs floated down the fjord, stranding themselves in this small bay when the tide turned.  Earlier that morning there were so many pieces of ice that I couldn’t even walk across this beach. But by nightfall most were carried away and only a few remained. It was my last night in Nuuk and the forecast called for 80% clouds. I just had to wait for that 20% gap. Geomagnetic activity wasn’t particularly high either, but this far north it doesn’t take much. Greenland is located under the auroral oval, where shows like this may happen any time the sky is clear and dark enough. When fringes of purple or pink line the swirls of aurora, it’s often associated with bright, rapid movement. A still image doesn't even begin to show all that's happening in the sky. Rays of light pulse inward from every direction, converging overhead at the zenith. It’s mesmerizing to watch and hard to look away from, though part of me wished I had a second camera with me to capture it all.
    Energetic Swirls
  • A series of lightning bolts strike in the distance beyond Spring Lake. This storm was part of a derecho that formed over Nebraska and caused extensive damage as it headed towards Illinois. Even though this part of the storm was weaker it still displayed a nice shelf cloud and put on a great lightning show.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: June 4, 2014
    Spring Lake Shelf Cloud
  • I combined some of the last aurora images I took before dawn into this startrail. I stacked the pictures in Starstax using comet mode and in reverse order so the stars seem to be rotating clockwise instead of counterclockwise. This allowed the bright purple pillar to show through more easily.
    Rotational Velocity
  • 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
  • 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.
    Once in a Lifetime
  • On this late June day in central Montana, I didn’t think I would end up with any storm pictures. Just as the storms started firing at 5PM my car suffered a flat tire. After all the miles I’ve driven while stormchasing, it was bound to happen eventually. But thankfully this cell took it’s time and let me get my spare on before I could catch back up. Near the aptly named town of Grass Range, the sun came out as the rain and hail moved to the north. The golden light contrasted with the cool blues on the other side of the sky. Outflow winds gave meaning to the term (not yet amber) "waves of grain". I tried to use a long enough exposure to show some of this movement in the wheat. From here it would be a long 250 mile drive home on a donut tire.
    Waves of Grain
  • A supercell lurked in the darkness. Every few seconds a flash would illuminate the thundercloud and show a silhouette of the sharp spires of the Badlands. This was the 4th storm I watched this evening. Rumbles of thunder slowly grew louder as yet another storm approached from the west and threatened to block the view of this one. Badlands National Park is one of my favorite places to capture storms. Even when they’re 100 miles away, the views here are excellent. And distant storms are preferred when I’m camping. The Badlands are very exposed to the elements. There is no escaping the rain, wind, and mud. An earlier downpour soaked me to the skin but the wind that followed dried me in minutes. The mud is the type that cakes to the bottom of your shoes making every footstep heavier. But a few hours in the hot sun and the mud is baked dry. At the time of this picture tennis-ball sized hail was reported in the Pine Ridge Reservation to the south. The lights are from the metropolis of Interior, population 94. The lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud; this was the only strike I captured out of 500 shots.
    Strike Beyond Interior
  • There are some things that just don't happen every day. One of the brightest comets in decades is swinging past Earth this month. As I brainstormed to figure out where to capture it, Steamboat Point seemed like an obvious choice. Anyone who has driven Highway 14 would recognize this iconic peak of the Bighorn Mountains. It gets its name because of the massive rock face that sticks into the air like the prow of a steamboat. Even though storms were around in the evening, I was not expecting them to last. But lightning flashed to the north for the entire night. The red color is an effect caused by viewing from a long distance through the thicker atmosphere. At 2:30AM, the comet rose above the northeast horizon, tail-first. A comet's tail always points away from the Sun. The 67% moon off to the right lit up the mountain, while shadows added depth to the scene. Soon after this, noctilucent clouds joined the show, but that's for another post. By the time the sun rose my memory card had 1400 new images. It was a night very much worth losing sleep over.
    Worth Losing Sleep Over
  • This supercell dropped hail the size of baseballs and brought a good lightning show as it got closer.
    Cloud Piercer
  • This was the 2nd twister that I saw outside of Buffalo, South Dakota. It danced around, touching the ground briefly and lifting again a few times. But the wall cloud on the right was beginning to show very rapid motion. It was about to drop a wedge tornado, and I knew I had to get closer to get a better view.
    Cute Little Twister
  • In mid-August I photographed the annual Perseid meteor shower. But this was no ordinary year, as there were twice as many meteors as normal. Beartooth Lake, at almost 9,000 feet in the Beartooth Mountains was the perfect place to watch from. I was worried about the weather, with thick clouds at sunset and a wildfire only 7 miles away. But it ended up being a beautiful night. The show got started at 1AM when the moon set, leaving the sky completely dark. While listening to every little sound around me (this is grizzly bear country) I counted 250 meteors in 4 hours. This was one of 93 that my camera captured over  Beartooth Butte. The radiant (Perseus) was to the upper right outside of the frame. As dawn approached, fog swirled around the glassy surface of the lake. Hand warmers strapped to my lens prevented the glass from fogging up. I don't know how cold it was, but I do know my water bottle froze and I was snowed on at the pass earlier in the evening.
    Green to Red
  • On the last day of June, 2 severe storms known as derechoes formed and moved across Illinois. After the 2nd storm passed through, it provided an amazing show of lightning. As the rain and wind ended, bolts of lightning slowly crawled across the sky, lasting up to 5 seconds. Even though it was 11pm, the field of soybeans was lit up like day.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: June 30, 2014
    Static Charge
  • 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
  • An early season snowstorm stranded me in the Bighorn Basin an extra day. I tried to make the most of it by visiting the mustangs west of Greybull. Last time I was here I saw the entire herd of nearly 100 wild horses. But this time, despite driving for miles and scanning with binoculars, these were the only 2 I could find. But they gave me plenty of photo opportunities as they galloped across the hills with snowflakes in the air. The McCullough Peaks mustangs are believed to be descendants of Buffalo Bill’s horses from his Wild West Show. They are 1 of 2 herds of wild horses found on BLM land in northern Wyoming.
    Cold and Free
  • Mammatus clouds are a common sight while storm chasing, but never have I seen them in a sunset like this. They seemed to become more defined and filled nearly the entire sky as the sun sank lower. The fiery colors were so intense that I had to cut back on the saturation. A strong MCS (mesoscale convective system) had moved off to the east as I was passing through Wheatland on my way home. When I noticed this sunset developing I searched for something nearby to serve as a foreground and this old tractor did the trick. Mammatus clouds usually form beneath the anvil of a strong thunderstorm, which means they can be either ahead of or behind the storm. The lobes are about 500m wide on average and show a sinking motion, making it look like the sky is falling. Pilots typically give mammatus a wide berth because of the turbulence they bring. Even though they happen frequently, their formation is not very well understood.
    Farmer's Delight
  • In mid-August I photographed the annual Perseid meteor shower. But this was no ordinary year, as there were twice as many meteors as normal. Beartooth Lake, at almost 9,000 feet in the Beartooth Mountains was the perfect place to watch from. I was worried about the weather, with thick clouds at sunset and a wildfire only 7 miles away. But it ended up being a beautiful night. The show got started at 1AM when the moon set, leaving the sky completely dark. While listening to every little sound around me (this is grizzly bear country) I counted 250 meteors in 4 hours. With my camera pointed northwest at Beartooth Butte, I captured 93 of them. I combined them all into this composite image. The radiant (Perseus) was to the upper right outside of the frame. As dawn approached, fog swirled around the glassy surface of the lake. Hand warmers strapped to my lens prevented the glass from fogging up. I don't know how cold it was, but I do know my water bottle froze and I was snowed on at the pass earlier in the evening.
    Night of the Falling Stars
  • Anyone who has tried chasing the aurora is familiar with disappointment. Especially in mid-latitudes, there can be months in a row with little to no activity. And when the sun does get more active, sometimes it feels like everything is working against you. Unpredictability is high. The timing is all wrong when the geomagnetic storm happens during the day, or on the cloudiest night of the week, or when the moon is so bright you can’t see it. But if you keep going out and watching, eventually you’ll catch a view like this. Last night I went up to an overlook in the Bighorn Mountains. For the first couple hours the aurora glowed but lacked any movement. Then at 10PM, a substorm broke out into these colorful pillars moving from right to left. Just half an hour later the moon was up and the show was over. Aurora activity will continue to increase as we head towards solar maximum.
    Highway 14 Aurora
  • After 3 straight nights of seeing the aurora, I thought the show was over. When it first got dark, there was nothing to the north. But before going to sleep I checked again and there were red and green pillars dancing. Being at 7400' certainly helped with the view, I'm sure it wasn't this visible down below.
    Monumental Aurora
  • I'm still in shock that my camera captured this. Most of the small storm had moved off to the east behind me and I thought the show was over. This was literally going to be my last shot before packing it up, and if it happened 2 seconds later, I would have missed it. The bright light behind the cloud is the first quarter moon. All the other white specks are raindrops, frozen in mid-air by the brilliant flash. The raw power dwarfed everything around and it took awhile for my eyes (and ears) to recover. I'm still not sure what was struck, but one of the forks looks like it connects with the short tower on the hill. I've tried before and failed to capture lightning from this vantage point overlooking Sheridan. But when I heard a thunderstorm rolling out of the mountains shortly before midnight, this is where I went. The covered deck at the rest area offered a little protection and helped keep the rain off of my lens.
    A Flash of Brilliance
  • Sheep Mountain has been on my list of peaks to climb for awhile. In the summer it's possible to drive to the top of this 9,610' mountain. But that's too easy, so I went in the winter. Snow depths varied from bare ground to drifts 15 feet high. After snowshoeing an exhausting 6 miles while carrying a heavy pack, I made it to the top with barely enough time to pitch a tent before dark. The summit itself is too rocky and exposed to the wind, but I found a nearby campsite that was flat enough and more sheltered. At sunrise the next morning the views were incredible. Looking east, I could see parts of the Black Hills well over 100 miles away. When the sun made it over the horizon, it was only visible for a couple minutes. But this ephemeral light show was worth all the effort to get here.
    Sheep Mountain Sunrise
  • I went back and had another go at processing my solar eclipse pictures. Here I combined several shots and tried to show every feature of the eclipse that I was able to capture. There is such a huge range of light that it's impossible to capture it all in one image. The glow around the sun is called the corona. Shaped by complex magnetic fields, it consists of super-heated plasma up to 450X hotter than the solar surface. The sun's north pole is located at 10 o'clock where the magnetic field lines are shorter. The red fringes on the right are fiery solar prominences, several times the size of Earth. Also shown is the diamond ring effect, when the first bright sliver of sunlight reappears from behind the moon. Details on the lunar surface can be seen because of an effect called earthshine (not to be confused with moonshine). Sunlight is reflected off of the Earth and faintly illuminates the dark side of the moon. Regulus is the star visible on the lower left.
    Eclipse All In One
  • 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.
    Full Spectrum
  • I spotted these vivid iridescent clouds above the sun in Ranchester, Wyoming. The colors were more easily seen with sunglasses since the clouds were bright. It looked like an oil slick in the sky. There were plenty of lenticular clouds around, and it's common for those to show iridescence when they're in the right place.
    Iridescence
  • 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
  • On June 3rd, a derecho formed in Nebraska and moved across Iowa causing plenty of wind and hail damage. By the time it reached Central Illinois after midnight it had weakened. Spring Lake was hit by the northern part which wasn't as severe. But it still displayed some nice structure and put on a good lightning show.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: June 4, 2014
    Illuminated Shelf
  • Every clear night between December and April, Orion has a close encounter with Devils Tower just before it sets. It was a shot I've had in mind for awhile, but I waited until March to pay a visit so I could capture it at a more reasonable time and temperature. Beneath the 3 belt stars is found Orion's Sword. It also goes by the name Messier 42, NGC1976, or simply the Orion Nebula. As the brightest nebula in northern hemisphere skies, it is easily seen with the naked eye away from light pollution. Larger in angular size than the moon, it looks spectacular in even a small telescope. If you zoom in to the belt star of Alnitak (pierced by a satellite trail), the Flame Nebula is on the left, with the Horsehead located below. Between finding the right overlook, aligning the star tracking mount, shooting dozens of long exposures, and hours of editing, “deepscape” photos like this are always more complex than any other type I create. But I love showing a commonly photographed landmark in an uncommon way. When thin clouds started to roll in I almost stopped shooting, but I ended up liking the halo effect.
    Orion Close Encounter
  • Thanksgiving morning at Bighorn Canyon brought the best sunrise I've seen this year. Even an hour before the sun rose, the clouds in the east were already showing a deep pink color, and it only got better. The clouds were sculpted by strong winds and showed lots of texture. This view is from the Hillsboro Ranch trailhead at Barry's Landing.
    Hillsboro Sunrise
  • I couldn’t let NEOWISE leave without trying to capture it over Devils Tower. But this wasn’t the shot I had in mind. The forecast called for mostly clear skies after earlier severe weather exited. But sometimes what actually happens is so much better than what I can imagine. This supercell popped up to the west around 10PM and the anvil quickly blocked out the comet. But then just as the storm was showing its best mothership structure during a close encounter with the tower, a hole in the clouds opened up. It was perfectly placed to reveal the comet once again for just a few minutes. It’s a good thing that most of the lightning was intracloud. If bolts of lightning were jumping out they would have been too bright to expose for the comet. Every single flash highlighted or backlit a different part of the storm. While the lightning continued for most of the night, I was glad the large hail stayed away. I didn’t want to test the hailproofness of my tent.
    A Hole in the Clouds
  • I nearly had this lake (Deadman's Basin Reservoir) all to myself on this evening. The few trees on the beach were showing their fall foliage.
    Sunset at Deadman's Basin
  • This image shows the stars apparent motion caused by the rotation of the earth. I setup my camera point at my tent while I camped in Anza Borrego.
    Anza Borrego Night
  • Earlier in the spring I came across this overlook on a hilltop with a view of the mountains to the west. I knew it would be be the perfect spot to watch a storm roll out of the Bighorns, I just needed to wait for the right storm. My first attempt didn’t yield the pictures I wanted as the cell went too far south. But the second time’s a charm. This storm intensified after I got here and started spitting out dozens of close lightning bolts. It was dark enough that I could use a longer shutter speed, and capture about 40% of the strikes that occurred. But there were many more out of frame to the right. This is a composite image showing 5 of the best strikes. By the time I left there was a small stream running under my car as well as some minor street flooding in Sheridan.
    5 Strikes
  • The radar showed hail up to softball sized falling in this area. But I was glad for these horses sake that it missed them.
    Wet Horse Rainbow
  • Early in the morning the northern horizon glowed green. This was caused by a geomagnetic storm from a recurring coronal hole on the sun. A coronal hole is an opening in the outer atmosphere of the sun that allows the high-speed solar wind to escape, which triggers the aurora when it impacts Earth’s magnetic field. Since the sun rotates on it’s axis every 27 days, this can be predicted in advance. I saw the aurora from this coronal hole in September, but last month it was too cloudy. I was determined to see it again this weekend even if it meant staying up all night dodging clouds (aurora hunting is an addiction). The infrared satellite showed a gap in the clouds moving in at 2AM, so I made some coffee and found a dark spot on the Wyoming/Montana state line to watch and wait. It wasn’t the best display I've seen, but I’ll take what I can get during solar minimum, and the meteor was a nice bonus.
    Parkman Pond Aurora - 54
  • Early in the morning the northern horizon glowed green. This was caused by a geomagnetic storm from a recurring coronal hole on the sun. A coronal hole is an opening in the outer atmosphere of the sun that allows the high-speed solar wind to escape, which triggers the aurora when it impacts Earth’s magnetic field. Since the sun rotates on it’s axis every 27 days, this can be predicted in advance. I saw the aurora from this coronal hole in September, but last month it was too cloudy. I was determined to see it again this weekend even if it meant staying up all night dodging clouds (aurora hunting is an addiction). The infrared satellite showed a gap in the clouds moving in at 2AM, so I made some coffee and found a dark spot on the Wyoming/Montana state line to watch and wait. It wasn’t the best display I've seen, but I’ll take what I can get during solar minimum, and the meteor was a nice bonus.
    Parkman Pond Aurora - 32
  • After driving for over 5 hours I finally reached the edge of this powerful supercell just west of Faith, South Dakota. From a distance I could see wall clouds and funnels, but up close they disappeared. I was having trouble recognizing the storm structure until I noticed this horseshoe-shaped RFD cut. The back of the horseshoe shows where a potential tornado would form. There was a short-lived funnel, visible at the bottom center. At the time there was a mobile dopplar radar parked down the road scanning the skies.
    RFD and Funnel
  • Early June is wildflower season in the Bighorns and entire mountainsides were blooming with color. I took advantage of the clear weather by shooting the milky way from Red Grade Road outside of Sheridan. It was dark for a couple hours before the galaxy started to fade and the sky became bluer. At 1AM the 65% moon peeked over the distant ridge and cast a warm glow across the arrowleaf balsamroot flowers shaking in the breeze. I’ve always found a late night moonrise to be one of the toughest scenes to capture accurately. While my eyes could easily see details of the moon, the camera only shows it as a burst of light because the moon is significantly brighter than it’s surroundings.
    By The Light of the Moon
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north.
    Aurora Gap
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north.
    Volcanic Green
  • When I passed by this cool looking abandoned house, I knew I had to stop. The sky behind it shows the early stages of a long tracking supercell.
    Nobody's Home
  • In this part of Montana there’s a whole lot of nothing. The sprawling ranches have more acreage than many towns. I’ve previously driven hours along this road east of Decker without seeing another human. You're more likely to encounter wildlife such as pronghorn antelope, which I've raced across these plains and found that they really can run 60 mph. On a warm August evening I followed this storm for awhile. The radar showed it was producing hail the size of baseballs. But since the core passed through a roadless area, any severe weather went unseen and unreported. Abandoned houses are not hard to find as they are more common than lived-in houses. By now I know where most of them are so I kept driving until I could shoot the storm above this one. When the evening sun came out it highlighted the puffy cumulonimbus clouds receding into the distance. The white containers next to the tree are bee hive boxes. I've noticed them popping up more and more across Montana as it's one of the top honey-producing states.
    Home On the Range
  • The rivers in Alaska are unlike anywhere else I've been. They are very wide, but split into many channels separated by sandbars. Their courses are ever-changing, influenced by floods and ice jams. Some rivulets were deep and fast-flowing, while others were shallow and calm. This river is fittingly named the Delta. To reach the flowing water I had to walk farther than the map showed. The setting sun painted the high clouds gold while lower clouds hugged the peaks of the Alaska Range 40 miles away. There are no bridges over the Delta River so getting across it is tricky. Much of the land in between the river and the mountains is undisturbed forest and tundra. But there also exists unexploded ordnance since it's a testing range used by the military. After this I stumbled across a large carcass which reminded me that this isn't always the friendliest of places. Alaska is home to approximately 32,000 grizzly bears and I didn't want to stick around here long enough to meet one.
    Delta River Sunset
  • It was great to get out for my first storm chase of the year. This supercell was showing it's best structure near Upton.
    At the Logging Camp
  • Up until the lunar eclipse started, I still wasn't sure I would be able to see it. In between an overcast day and an incoming snowstorm, weather models were showing a brief clearing. The clouds parted not a moment too soon. Compared to the last recent eclipse, the moon was a lot higher in the sky at 50°, which made it more challenging to shoot with a foreground. I needed to find something tall, where I could set up my camera underneath and point it southeast. The Needle's Eye is a natural arch that stands at the entrance to Tongue River Canyon in the Bighorn Mountains. I knew I wouldn't be able to fit the moon inside the arch, but just above it. This is a wider shot to include more of the canyon walls.
    Red Moon and Arch
  • Kirkjufellsfoss is one of the most iconic scenes in Iceland. Just Google "Iceland" and see how many times it shows up. The name translates to "church mountain waterfall" because of the peak's nearly perfect symmetrical shape. There is a trail (if it can be called that) leading to the top of Kirkjufell which is one of the steepest I've ever hiked. In the evening, tour buses stop here and this small spot is filled with hordes of tourists and photographers lined up tripod to tripod to capture the sunset. But I wanted to avoid that so I came back in the morning when it was much quieter. There was a storm moving in and the sunrise didn't look very promising. But the eastern sky took on an orange glow for a short time.
    Kirkjufellsfoss Sunrise
  • The solar eclipse was absolutely incredible. There's no way to capture it in 1 picture or 1,000 pictures and there's nothing really to compare it to. During the minutes surrounding totality the light changed so fast and there was so much to observe and photograph that it was overwhelming. It felt like time stood still and yet it was all over in an instant. I listened to the dozens of people around me who also climbed the 10,276' Laramie Peak to observe this eclipse. Cheering and exclamations of "WOW" were an almost involuntary reaction.<br />
<br />
This is a composite showing 3 partial phases of the eclipse with a solar filter, as well as 3 of the features that are visible during totality. A group of sunspots was visible before being hidden by the moon. The red fringes on the left are solar prominences. Bigger than any planet, prominences are made up of dynamic loops of hot plasma and will often explode. This outer atmosphere of the sun is sculpted by it's magnetic field. The temperature of the corona is up to 450 times hotter than the surface of the sun and no one knows why. At the top right is an effect known as the "diamond ring." It is the moment the first bit of sun emerges from behind the moon. I was surprised by just how suddenly it popped out, with all the brightness of the sun concentrated into a single point.
    Multifaceted Eclipse
  • This severe, slow-moving thunderstorm in northeast Wyoming was fascinating to watch. It was showing broad rotation, and was a prolific hail producer. I had to wait for the hail to move away from Highway 112 before I drove any further. Once I went north I found hail stones 2 inches wide which would have damaged my vehicle.
    Hulett Hailer
  • 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
  • It was a very hot summer day in Illinois with oppressive humidity and extremely unstable air. At 5PM this storm exploded into existence near Utica and in less than an hour it was dropping 4" hail. After leaving the storm to cross the Illinois River and avoid getting caught in the hail, I met back up with it here. The supercell was showing some of the best structure I've seen with an obvious spiral shape. The clear slot caused by the rear flank downdraft made it easy to pinpoint where a potential tornado would form. A likely funnel cloud can be seen just above the distant group of trees. But even though conditions in the upper atmosphere were more than enough to support a tornado, the winds at the surface were too weak. I followed the supercell for most of it's life cycle but nothing ever touched down.
    Red Barn Supercell
  • There is a lot happening at the local pond at 2AM. This image shows the stars apparent movement in 45 minutes time. The aurora glowed to the north in hues of red and green. Meteors burned up in the atmosphere. Satellites and airplanes  flew past. It was far from quiet with flapping waterfowl, croaking frogs, and a splashing beaver. Startrail reflections are like mini seismographs, recording ripples in the water. With no wind, all the disturbances are from the beaver splashing.
    Beaver Pond Startrails
  • Outside of St Onge, this supercell started showing some ominous structure. It would soon be dropping very large hail and a tornado.
    Fleeing the Storm
  • Up until the lunar eclipse started, I still wasn't sure I would be able to see it. In between an overcast day and an incoming snowstorm, weather models were showing a brief clearing. The clouds parted not a moment too soon. Compared to the last recent eclipse, the moon was a lot higher in the sky at 50°, which made it more challenging to shoot with a foreground. I needed to find something tall, where I could set up my camera underneath and point it southeast. The Needle's Eye is a natural arch that stands at the entrance to Tongue River Canyon in the Bighorn Mountains. I knew I wouldn't be able to fit the moon inside the arch, but just above it. The scattered clouds which remained made a red halo around the eclipsed moon. Closer to the arch is a cluster of stars known as The Beehive.
    Threading the Needle
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north.
    Sleeping Giant
  • After seeing only about 1 hour of clear skies over 5 nights, I was determined to catch a good aurora display on my last night in Iceland. The southern coast was showing the best weather forecast. So that is where I went, camping in the shadow of the glacier-capped Eyjafjallajökull volcano which was lit up by the moonlight. This is the same volcano that erupted 7 years ago with the giant ash cloud causing the biggest disruption to air travel since WWII. As soon as it got dark the northern lights came out and stayed the entire night. Compared to lower latitudes, the aurora up here is brighter and moves and changes so much faster. It will often appear anywhere in the sky, not just limited to the north. The aurora transformed into all kinds of interesting shapes, to me this shot looked like a surfing brontosaurus.
    Surfing Brontosaurus
  • 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
  • The stars of the milky way galaxy are reflected in a calm pond outside of Keosauqua, Iowa. Southeast Iowa has some of the darkest skies in the Midwest, perfect for stargazing. In this self portrait, I stood on the end of a dock and pointed my headlamp towards the stars. Because it was a humid night with fog moving across the water, the beam of light showed up well.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: June 25, 2014
    Stargazer
  • This supercell showed the best structure west of Busby. But then it moved north and weakened.
    Busby Supercell
  • 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
  • I've been to the Devil Canyon Overlook many times, but this time I wanted to get a different perspective from higher up. This view shows how precarious the overlook is, it's not a good idea to go beyond the railing. It also shows why Bighorn Canyon is one of my favorite places: it's almost always empty.
    Above Devil Canyon
  • This night was a rare one. The weather was completely clear with no winds, the moon had set, and the temperature was even in the positives. Conditions were perfect for stargazing, and I had to take advantage of it. The dead silence in these grassy hills outside of Buffalo was only interrupted by the occasional howl of a coyote. I pointed my camera north and took pictures for 90 minutes, which I combined into this star trail image. It shows the stars apparent motion caused by the Earth's rotation. Each star in the northern sky takes 24 hours (23:56 to be precise) to make a complete revolution in a counterclockwise direction. The height of the North Star (also known as Polaris) is always equal to the latitude - 44° in this case. Any star less than 44° away from Polaris is circumpolar, which means it never goes below the horizon. The red at the bottom of the picture was a very dim appearance of the aurora. I couldn't see it with my eyes.
    Revolutions
  • On October 21st, Northern Wyoming received it's first snowfall of the season that made it down to the valleys. After the storm cleared out overnight, the temperature plummeted. It was about 10°F up here at 6500 feet in the Bighorn Mountains. I made it to one of my favorite views, the Sand Turn Overlook just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. I was glad to find this tree still showing it's fall foliage, illustrating the clash of two seasons.
    Winter in October
  • Passing traffic shows up as red and white streaks in this long exposure <br />
 taken on Michigan Ave.
    Michigan Avenue
  • All was quiet at 3AM in the pleasantly cool air. It felt like I was the only one awake. I was at my ‘lazy’ aurora watching spot, where I go when I don’t feel like driving far. For hours, a southward-oriented solar wind stream had been pouring energy into Earth's magnetic field. It's these conditions that eventually lead to a geomagnetic storm. Moonlight, as well as smoke from a new forest fire were conspiring to hide the glow. But after waiting for a bit the northern sky finally broke out into pillars. The colors could not be seen with the eye but the greens, reds, and purples showed up well on camera. Just when I was about to leave I heard the train horn. The crossing gate went down and soon I could feel the rumble and wind as the train cars rushed past me. I’ve never captured a moving train at night, but this was the perfect time to try. The empty train was heading north to pick up a load of coal from the mines. It turns out I wasn’t the only one awake.
    Northbound Train
  • 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