The Greenest Desert in the World

Tucson is located in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, which is, as stated in the title, is the greenest in the world. As a lifelong easterner, watching the desert turn green and the various plants sprout color for the first time has been an interesting experience. Even with the ongoing drought, flowers are everywhere if you take the time to look. Here is one of the first of a cluster of flowers to open on one of the Saguaro's in my front yard. Look closely and you'll see insects on and all around it.
Canon 20D - 1/400th, 190mm @ f/29, ISO 400

More Mt. Hopkins Sunsets

It's hard not to shoot this scene from my fron yard. An Arizona sunset, Arizona geology and Arizona astronomy combine in this image of Mt. Hopkins and the MMT Observatory. Canon 20D - 1/640th, 238mm @ f/5.6, ISO 400

... and the start of another

Ready for the sky to darken, I tried a few shots with the Schmidt's slit open. Reminiscent of those comics that show the telescope sticking out of the slit, you can see the dew cap of the telescope almost poking out above the open lower shutter. Canon 20D - 4 seconds, 21mm @ f/22, ISO 3200

The End of the Workday

The stars are fading, the sky is brightening and the observer is yawning. The birds are starting to chirp, greeting the soon to rise Sun. A full night's work is almost completed and my dorm room bed is calling...


This is the last image from the series I took a few weeks ago. I posted the first image of the night, with the fading evening twilight. The camera worked by itself all night long, recording the parade of stars as they crossed the sky, only ending it's work at the same time the observer finished his. Canon 20D - 20 seconds, 20mm @ f/2.0, ISO 800

Rabbit Redux

The first image i placed on this blog was a view of one of these Jack Rabbits in my front yard. This guy was in no big hurry to get away from me. When he heard the shutter of the camera going off, he froze. Unfortunately, this technique doesn't quite make them invisible. He held this pose until I was finished shooting. Canon 20D- 1/400th, 300mm @ f/8, ISO 3200

Soaring Turkey Vulture

Rising on the growing thermals this morning, this Turkey Vulture flew over my head to get a better look at what I was doing. Lucky for him he'll soon be several thousand feet higher and many degrees cooler than here on the ground, where we should reach 100 degress for the first time this year. Canon 20D - 1/2500th, 300mm @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Moonrise over the Santa Ritas

I was hoping for more spectacular lighting on the clouds tonight, but I was happy just to have clouds in the shot. As Spring turns to Summer, I hope this view of a near full moon rising over these mountains will become even more impressive. Canon 20D - 1/80th, 34mm @ f/16, ISO 400

Distant Kitt Peak

As the sun sets, I took this image of Kitt Peak, the flat topped mountain, center left, 60 miles away from Mt. Bigelow. If you look closely at the larger image, you can just see thesilhouette of the 4 meter Mayall Telescope dome. Canon 20D- 1/500th, 149mm @ f/5.6, ISO 400

M20 & M8

Another tracked astrophoto. This time of the region of the Milky Way in the southern sky. Easily seen in this image are the nebulae known as the Trifid and the Lagoon Nebula. The tracking on this image was a little off, but not bad for an unguided shot. Canon 20D - 5 minutes, 300mm @ f/5.6 , ISO 400

The Summer Triangle

Exoerimenting with some digital astro-photos, I took this 5 minute exposure of the Milky Way centered on the bright stars Vega. top left, Deneb, lower left and Altair, center right. The stars form what is sometimes called The Summer Triangle. Images like this one, which last more than a few seconds, require a mount known as an Equatorial Mount, that allows tracking of the motion of the stars in the sky. Canon 20D - 5 minutes, 20mm @ f/2.8, ISO 400

Moon Rise over the Rincons

I had originally planned to shoot this scene when I got home yesterday, but the Flicker was an added bonus.
Most people are surprised to see the moon during the daytime, but except for the times right around when it is New or Full Moon, it is visible during at least some part of the day, most days. Canon 20D - 1/500th, 119mm @ f/22, ISO 400

Female Flicker

I pulled up to the house today to see this female Flicker watching me from this hole in another Saguaro in my front yard. I headed into the house watching her, and she me. I dropped off the mail and got the camera and headed back out. Slowly approaching the cactus, I expected her to show her head. Nothing!? She must have flown off again. I took some shots of the moon rising over the Ricons and then noticed she was now watching me. She didn't fly off until I was finished and took a step back. Canon 20D - 1/800th, 300mm @ f/10, ISO 400

Downtown Tampa

I was flying with a new pilot who had just puchased this plane from a friend of mine. We had flown over to St. Petersburg, Fla. for him to practice landings at a towered airport. While returning to our home airport, I grabbed this shot fom 2600 feet through the plane's plexiglass window. Olympus C-3020

Last fall I found this litle guy investigating the inside of the observatory dome at Bigelow. Olympus C-3020

Steller's Jay

This Steller's was one of several that visited Mt. Bigelow Station but the only one which stayed out in the open long enough for me to get a few images. Canon 20D - 1/500th, 300mm @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Darkness Falls

The sky darkens; The birds go to their roost and become quiet. The only sound is the rustling of the leaves and needles as the wind gently wafts through the branches of the trees. Slowly, imperceptively at first, Mars becomes visible, followed a few minutes later by Saturn and a few of the brighter stars. The observer prepares the telescope for another night of discovery...
This is the first image from a series I took at the Schmidt last week for a dusk to dawn animation. Canon 20D, 20 seconds, 20mm @ f/2, ISO 800, autodark subtract.

Sunset Behind Mt. Lemmon

It's hard not to photograph the sunsets in Arizona, so here is another. Taken from Mt. Bigelow Station, the peak of Mt. Lemmon is out of the frame to the right. Canon 20D - 1/100th, 133mm @ f/11, ISO 100