Browsing:

Category: Beautiful Places Far Away

Some Final Pieces of Long Island

Spending time on the North Shore of Long Island, I saw some pretty things. It was very foggy! From the shore we couldn’t even make out the land across the way… Dinner at the Onion Tree in Sea Cliff. This is the Bum tchoonth waingan (Eggplant & Apple Curry) “A Read more…


Planting Fields Arboretum
Oyster Bay, New York

I was so happy to get an intimate tour of the mansion and greenhouses at Planting Fields. The former Gold Coast estate of William Robertson Coe and Mai Rogers Coe, heiress and daughter of Standard Oil partner Henry Huttleston Rogers. Like many of the preserved former estates on Long Island’s Read more…


Hunter’s Moon
October 2023

Time for the beautiful full moon to grace my page once again. I swear I will work on doing some composite images with some foreground next time. But I never grow tire of this image. . the moon in all its crater-y form beaming proudly. These shots were taken in Read more…


Harvest Moon 2023

Another full moon on the porch in Rochester, NY. This one, September’s Harvest Moon. Regretfully, I took these shots using the auto-focus. I am now realizing it isn’t as sharp as when I use the manual focus. A lovely mistake to learn. Next full moon will be in October! Oh, Read more…


The Nights At Hither Hills
Montauk, Long Island

It always a shock to see how vibrant the stars are at Montauk. Sure, there is also a lot of light pollution at the horizon–but the Milky Way always says “Hi” to me. I like to blame my starry luck on my underwear which is always star-patterned. And in some Read more…


The Days at Hither Hills
Montauk, Long Island

When a camping spot in the coveted J-section at Hither Hills State Park opened up, I booked it for two nights knowing there wouldn’t be a better way to spend the evening on my visit back to the metro area of New York. And it would be a perfect location Read more…


Moon… Super & Blue

You may have heard… there is a super blue moon tonight! Super as in it’s closer to the Earth. And Blue as it is the second full moon in the calendar month. The next time this combination of super and blue moons will occur is 2037. I took pretty pictures Read more…


A lot of Pictures of Snow Canyon State Park
Ivins, Utah

Though the St. George area of Utah is a busy gateway city to some of Utah’s mind-blowing national parks, there is plenty off the beaten trail and free of the summer mobs, like Snow Canyon State Park, which I happen to drive through trying to get some vegan breakfast at Read more…


Cathedral Gorge State Park, Part 3
Under the Milky Way

Despite the all-day of trickling rain and a sky full of gray, I knew I’d see the stars in the evening. It’s not because I checked the weather, though I did. I just kind of knew. The stars had satisfied every evening I wanted to shoot them. Though I don’t Read more…


Cathedral Gorge State Park, Part 2
Moon Slot Canyons

I wanted to differentiate this section of Cathedral Gorge State Park as it offers adventurers a chance to enter the beautiful land formations I showed in my previous post. Though wet and slippery, I could not help myself from entering the Moon Slot canyons. I imagine that the maze of Read more…


Cathedral Gorge State Park, Part 1
Panaca, Nevada {Pictorial}

Plenty to see at the beautiful Cathedral Gorge State Park. This is the first installment.


Panaca, Nevada

After a wet ride of downpours in the desert accredited to Hurricane Hilary, I arrived at Panaca, Nevada. Here I would enjoy a charming bed and breakfast along with a pretty amazing state park, a warm spring, some muddy trails and, fantastically, a slither of time with the stars. But Read more…


Great Basin National Park
Lehman Caves Tour {Pictorial}


Great Basin National Park
International Dark Sky Park

I’m finally in a new International Dark Sky Park… my 19th!! Great Basin National Park. Despite some clouds, I got some great astrophotography done as I laid in my tent. I have come to find the clicking of my intervalometer comforting as I am camping. The clouds then returned to Read more…


Great Basin National Park
My 31st National Park

And onward to the second national park during this short trip: Nevada’s Great Basin National Park. This park, which is also an International Dark Sky-certified park, has such a diversity of offerings… the chance to step into a glacier, an emerald-hued alpine lake, caves, tremendous conifers, towering cliffs and rock Read more…


Cascade Falls Trail
Dixie National Forest

I learned about this hike from some signage at Cedar Breaks National Monument and I was very glad I did. Not only did I have the hike to myself, but there were spectacular views every step of the way, including Zion National Park in the distance. The waterfall is fed Read more…


Cedar Breaks National Monument
In the Dark

And night came at Cedar Breaks National Monument… along with its billions of stars. I spent most of the time of my night shoot in an empty parking lot near my campsite where it was a bit darker than my campsite. That’s my rental car up there. And a gorgeous Read more…


Cedar Breaks National Monument
Waiting For Darkness

As with any of my summer trips west, the goal was star shoots. Camping ensures easy access to an International Dark Sky park’s starry skies. But first you have to fill your day with the park’s beauty as the sun beats strong. On my last visit to Cedar Breaks National Read more…


Cottage: Nighttime

It was a gorgeous night with crisp stars… but some wispy clouds persisted to enter the landscape. Still, the night shoot went better than I expected, with the most beautiful Milky Way right outside the door pretty early on. It makes a case for how a gorgeous galactic core can Read more…


Full Moon From The Porch

How wonderful to see the full moon from the porch… to easily set up the tripod after waking up in the middle of the night to catch August’s first full moon. She was a beauty! Did you get to see her?


June Dump!

The Waxing Crescent. I am enjoying photographing the waning and waxing phases as their partial illumination and stark black is so beautiful. Cookies for Mom. Ghiradelli finally makes vegan chocolate chips. They’re yummy of course… because they’re chocolate chips Soft dough… maybe because of the humidity They flattened out a Read more…


Scenes From The Unofficial Start
Port Bay, New York


Balloons Over Letchworth State Park

On my list this visit to Western New York, a early morning trip to Letchworth State Park for a hot air balloon launch. Somehow getting up at 4:30 am and setting out to the Castile entrance, an experience that was well worth the disrupted sleep: bright beautifully colored balloons floating Read more…


The Lilacs in Rochester, New York

Lilacs are “a thing” in Rochester. Celebrated since 1905, the Lilac Festival at Highland Park is a gorgeous display of over 500 varieties of the fragrant flowering bush. Though I missed the official festival, I thought I might still be able to check out the purple. . . And there Read more…


Chimney Bluffs State Park, Again

We were back at Chimney Bluff State Park to complete the Bluff Trail. It is on this trail where you can see the dramatic views of the pointy spires looking out at the blue expanse of Great Lake Ontario. A quick trip before my flight back to NYC… We’re down Read more…


Checking In On Cherry Springs State Park

It’s been several years since I visited the first place I ever shot the stars. Though that evening was clear, too many times my plans were thwarted by the mountain’s tempestuous clouds. But we would give it a shot anyway, staying in town to allow for an easy check on Read more…