The second full moon set to rise in the sky Aug. 30 will not be just a “blue moon” — as the two-in-one calendar month lunar phenomena that occurs every two to three years is known. No, it’s going to be a “super blue moon.” According to NASA, so-called blue moons — and the accompanying […]
night sky
North Coast Night Lights: 2020 A New Light Review
The year 2020 was something of an off year. I, for one, took fewer photographs; I simply had less creative energy this year. There was the never-ending pandemic, followed by the raging, record-setting wild fires of summer and fall. On top of that, with very little time to prepare I was asked to teach a […]
North Coast Night Lights: Visualize the Stars
“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need — roads.” – Doc, Back to the Future II. One of the more challenging visualizations for me is to imagine looking at the Solar System from a point above it in outer space, far enough out that the Sun is but a bright point of light below. With […]
North Coast Night Lights: Lone Oak and Country Road
In the still of the night, on a ridge top beside a quiet country road, an old oak tree enjoys a long view of valleys and sky. What changes it must have seen as the years turned and the seasons slipped by, day by day and night by night. Most of us will see the […]
North Coast Night Lights: Lost in Space (Big Dipper over Trinidad)
The planet hung silently in space. A tiny jewel in the blackness, it was a half-lit marble of greens and browns and blues and whites. But it was more than a planet, it was a life-bearing droplet, a little oasis of life journeying in infinite patience in its timeless passage around the sun. Soft moonlight […]
North Coast Night Lights: Unexpected Magic: Rabbit Stargazer
What makes a photograph special isn’t always what was planned but what happens instead. Of course, sometimes what happens instead can make a mess of things. One has no choice in the matter, but it seems to me that if I’m open to the possibility that something unexpected can make the photo better then delightful […]
North Coast Night Lights: The Survivor
The Survivor. The gnarled old pear tree was struggling to survive, hanging onto the edge of a dried embankment above a little dirt road when my family moved there over 40 years ago. It was small, not much taller than my dad, but already old, a twisted thing eking out a life on its own […]
North Coast Night Lights: Eel River Delta From Table Bluff
If you have ever driven to the South Jetty of Humboldt Bay, then along the bluffs just before the road descends to the ocean level, you will have passed by Table Bluff County Park. The park is graced with trails, a broad field, trees, benches and, of course, great views over the Pacific Ocean and […]
North Coast Night Lights: Humboldt County Skyline
It’s unlikely for one who lives in Humboldt County to be unaware of a certain industry, which shall here remain nameless, and for which the county is known somewhat beyond its borders, and which recently became legal in our state, for the subject naturally becomes a part of many conversations. I could discuss it in […]
North Coast Night Lights: Trinidad Head Under a Full Moon
Last weekend I had the pleasure of showing off Trinidad and Trinidad Head to an old family friend who was visiting from the prairie. Prairie folks don’t often see the edge of the continent, let alone this coastal gem that we have here on the Humboldt shore. Of course, my idea for a tour around […]
