A Look Back at 2024

Time. A simple word that has speed that ever increases.

I feel like I just posted A Look Back at 2023 and here I am again, now looking back at 2024. Yikes!

We don’t often ponder all the moments we experience in a year until we look back at the photos accumulated during the 365/6 days. These frozen instants become a mirror of what we actually experienced. So take pictures. Lots of them.

Here are some of my favorite moments of the year distilled from the thousands of frames I shot.

Celestial Wows

We were graced with some amazing sights! Aurora, a comet, and a total eclipse!

The Great North American Solar Eclipse on April 8th was spectacular! After years of photographing partial solar eclipses, I finally got to see a total eclipse. It is an experience everyone should have once in their lifetime. There aren’t words to properly describe it. Read more about the April 8th eclipse.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 200-500 mm | 🎞 – ISO 100 | 🔘 – f/5.6 | 🕒 – 1/100 second⁠s (stacked)

Sequence comprised of 51 minutes of the eclipse.

We had CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) from our Sun that lit up the night skies with incredible displays in latitudes where the aurora is not often seen. Below, the Sandwich boardwalk on Cape Cod is graced with a rainbow of aurora pillars. We will no doubt have the opportunity to photograph aurora in the next couple of years thanks to our Sun entering solar maximum. Learn how to photograph this elusive and beautiful event.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Viltrox 16 mm | 🎞 – ISO 3200 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 2.5 second⁠ frames

We also had a stunning visitor pass by. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) graced our skies in October. Named after the observatory that discovered it, the Purple Mountain Observatory in China, and the Atlas telescope in South Africa, this comet is expected to swing by here again in 80,660 years! It also has a super cool anti-tail!

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 70-200 mm | 🎞 – ISO 500 | 🔘 – f/2.8 | 🕒 – 837 second⁠s (stacked)

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and the Milky Way photographed towards the end of blue hour in Acadia NP.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 20 mm | 🎞 – ISO 3200 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 570 second⁠s (stacked)

Oregon

The Oregon coast is an eye-candy buffet of waterfalls, surf, massive sea stacks and so much more. I caught this photographer doing what photographers do best: entranced and immersed in the beauty, oblivious to others around.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/32 | 🕒 – 6 second⁠s

Sunset at Yaquina Head Lighthouse. As a lighthouse fiend extraordinaire, Oregon fed my obsession well. These lighthouses are beyond beautiful.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/8 | 🕒 – .13 second⁠s

Cannon Beach sunset. I’ve seen sea stacks in my travels, but none compare to the size of these. This was shot with a wide-angle lens which minimizes the apparent size of the sea stack. The person walking restores the perception of its massive size.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 140 | 🔘 – f/5.6 | 🕒 – 1/400 second⁠

The beginning of blue hour at Bandon Beach. The long exposure softens the breaking surf.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/36 | 🕒 – 1.3 second⁠s

Waterfalls are everywhere in Oregon. This might be the most well-known of them, Multnomah Falls.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 100 | 🔘 – f/13 | 🕒 – .4 second⁠s

A rose bush photographed with intentional camera movement. Oregon is loaded with roses everywhere.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 100 | 🔘 – f/6.3 | 🕒 – 1/160 second (5 in-camera multiple exposure)

Acadia National Park

This park is a delight throughout the seasons. The Milky Way is by far my favorite to photograph as the dark skies bring out the dimmest stars and the rugged features that are the trademark of this park make for a perfect foreground. At any given time of the day, it is a delight to explore and photograph. Here are a few of my favorite moments from late spring and autumn.

The Milky Way core and a faint green airglow over still waters that reflected the starlight. The bright pink areas in the core are nebulae.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Viltrox 16mm | 🎞 – ISO 10000 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 6 second⁠s

The Milky Way, this time rendered with an H-alpha converted camera. H-alpha reveals much more detail in the night sky.

📷 – Nikon Z6 h-alpha | 🔘 – Viltrox 40mm | 🎞 – ISO 4000 | 🔘 – f/2.5 | 🕒 – 1.3 second⁠s

A canopy of autumn color against brilliant blue skies.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/4 | 🕒 – 1/60 second⁠s

Autumn reflections.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/6.3 | 🕒 – 2 second⁠s

Scotland

Scotland is a rugged, intensely beautiful place. Moody skies are ever-present. As a lover of history, it felt like stepping back in time. My imagination can run amok at times so it was easy for me to visualize historical events as I walked through Scotland.

Sunrise on a blistery, snowy morning. The edifice on the right is the Old Man of Storr.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 500 | 🔘 – f/8 | 🕒 – 1/400second⁠s

A scene that has it all. A mountain, a waterfall, moody skies, autumn color, and surreal beauty.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/18| 🕒 – .5 second⁠s

Reflections seem to be a mainstay in Scotland. I have many scenes with mirror reflections. Here’s one.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 64 | 🔘 – f/6.7 | 🕒 – 1/3 second⁠s

Castles. I am a sucker for them. My obsession with castles is as intense as for lighthouses. This is the Castle Stalker, also known as the Castle Arghhh, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 140 | 🔘 – f/6.3 | 🕒 – 1/200 second⁠s

This and That

In between the trips, there was a bevy of other instants captured at home. Of course, many moments centered around lighthouses. Cough cough.

This shot is from one of my Meetups. It became the cover of my latest book, Night Shades – A Guide to Photography After Dark.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 20 mm | 🎞 – ISO 6400 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 6 second⁠s

The skyline of Boston and the Longfellow Bridge.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-400 mm | 🎞 – ISO 100 | 🔘 – f/8 | 🕒 – 30 second⁠s

The full Moon rising over Boston.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Nikkor 180-600 mm | 🎞 – ISO 3200 | 🔘 – f/6 | 🕒 – 1 second⁠

After a fierce storm, waves at Minots Light. After years of trying to photograph this lighthouse engulfed by massive waves, I finally succeeded. This is a bucket list shot. The wind was so fierce that morning, it took me and my tripod down twice.