Category: Inspiration

Some inspiration for venturing out in the cold and the dark to photograph the Milky Way.

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How I Planned and Shot an Erupting Volcano with the Milky Way by Albert Dros

Albert Dros has been a great friend to Lonely Speck over the last few years, sharing with us his experiences shooting landscape astrophotography around the world. We had the pleasure of meeting him in his native environment of the Netherlands when we traveled through Europe last spring. A few weeks ago, Albert messaged me about his plans to photograph the Milky Way behind an erupting volcano. In this article, Albert Dros recounts his personal experience planning and shooting the Fuego Volcano in Guatemala.

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Photographing the Milky Way on Film

I often find myself drooling over news of the latest digital camera gear and lenses. I think we all do it a little. Astrophotography has benefitted greatly by the advancement of digital photographic technology and I’m always on the lookout for gear and techniques that will help increase the quality of my astrophotography. Most of all, astrophotography is more accessible than it has ever been because of newer, more affordable and more advanced technology.

I’ve made it a point to experiment with capturing the night sky on affordable and limited gear like point-and-shoot cameras and even a smartphone. I consistently support the idea that you don’t need the most expensive camera gear to learn how to photograph the night sky. That said, the point-and-shoot cameras and smartphone that I tested still use advanced modern technology to do what they can do. They have modern, back-illuminated CMOS sensor and the latest in miniaturization tech.

What if we instead approach astrophotography by going full retro?

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Astrophotography on Location: New Zealand

While much of our three weeks in New Zealand was met with rain and clouds, we found a bit of luck when we arrived at Lake Tekapo. Situated in the largest dark sky reserve in the world, Lake Tekapo is one of the world’s premier places to view and photograph the night sky. Join me on a night out shooting astrophotography in New Zealand with my first ever “Astrophotography on Location” vlog.

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Lonely Speck Meetup 2016 Recap

2016 Lonely Speck Meetup Recap

Wow! We had more than one hundred other friends and astrophotographers attend the first ever Lonely Speck Meetup in Trona Pinnacles, California on July 30th, 2016. It was a night of meeting many new friends from all over the world in one of the most spectacular places to see the night sky. I surprised Diana (and everyone else) by asking Diana to marry me. (She said “YES!”) Here’s a summary of the amazing night we had with so many of you at the 2016 Lonely Speck Meetup.

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Lonely Speck is on CreativeLive’s Night Photography Week

We’re going to be featured as a guest on the CreativeLive Night Photography Week! RSVP to join the CreativeLive Night Photography Week on September 12-16 for an entire week of free lessons on night photography. We had an amazing time shooting with the Lance Keimig and the CreativeLive team in the beautiful rocky setting of Alabama Hills, California. Here’s a recap of our experience shooting night photography with CreativeLive for their upcoming Night Photography Week.

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