January, Chapel Falls, Ashfield, MA 

At the end of 2020, I unfortunately contracted Covid-19, leaving me cooped up in my house battling symptoms. On the day I was finally able to break free from quarantine, weather decided to cooperate and provide me with a few inches of fresh snow.

Chapel Falls has always been one of the locations I escape to for a break from reality. For weeks I was itching to get back onto the trails and to do what I love in capturing the beauty of nature. What I didn’t know, is that while I may have overcome the initial symptoms, the long-haul effects still haunt me to this day.

This image is a vertical panorama, shot with my DJI Mavic 2 drone. Long exposures with a drone can be difficult at waterfalls due to the constant change in wind speed and direction, so this shot took a lot of trial and error.

Captured: 1/4/21

February, French King Bridge, Gill, MA

The famous French King Bridge one of my favorite locations to photograph. Every time I am there, I am presented with different conditions, and living close by allows me to capture it through multiple seasons.

Whether it be mood with fog and dark clouds, or a bright fiery sunset, the French King always tends to stand out strong. It’s always been on of those “beacons” of being home for me, as I used to travel across it most times going on vacation growing up, or more recently on my way to and from college.

This image is a vertical panorama, shot with my DJI Mavic 2 drone.

Captured: 2/17/21

March, Chapin Memorial Beach, Dennis, MA

On the eve of one of my first Milkyway chases of 2021, I met my friends Jose and Matt at Chapin Memorial Beach in Dennis, MA. The sky was completely clear which is a great sign for astrophotography and my plans to capture the Milkyway in Provincetown later that night. Typically though, clear skies do not provide the best sunrises or sunsets.

Much to our surprise, the sky lit up into a pink and orange gradient, something I had never seen before. The many textures of the dunes, beach, and lowtide provided one of my favorite sunset pictures to this date. The colors seemed to hang on forever.

This is vertical panorama, shot with my DJI Mavic 2 drone.

Captured: 3/9/21

April, Raven’s Nest, Acadia NP, ME

In mid-April, I visited one of my favorite areas in the North East, Acadia National Park. I had plans to use this trip as an experimental trip prior to my explorations out west in Wyoming and Montana. Much of my astrophotography work is an experiment with camera settings, capturing techniques, and post processing tools and skills.

I shot sunset with my friends Aaron, James and Mari at this location. Just as the sunset across the harbor, I began planning this shot. I had seen it captured many times previously, and wanted my take. After the sun disappeared behind Cadillac Mountain and the horizon, darkness quickly arrived. There was very little light to capture a detailed foreground, so my friend James painted a bit of the rocky outcropping on the left hand side.

This is a composite blend of 10 images. 5 for the foreground, with exposure times ranging from 1 minute to 4 minutes, F/2.8, ISO’s ranging from 1600-6400, and 5 for the sky, 2 minutes each, F/4, 1600 ISO.

Gear used: Canon 6D, Canon 24mm F/2.8, Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro  

Captured: 4/14/21

May, Charlo, MT

During my trip to the West, we visited Grand Tetons National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Glacier National Park. On the way back from Glacier towards Jackson Hole, we had clear skies in the town of Charlo, Montana. A few months prior, I had met a friend on the social media app “Clubhouse,” which is a group voice chat platform named Kelly.

Kelly is based in Montana, and being from the area had a few cool locations scouted out for Milkyway. Thankfully her and her dad Doug invited my friend Ryan and I to join along in their shoot on this night in Montana.

The reflection on the still water was incredible, especially under some of the darkest skies I have ever seen.

This is a composite blend of 10 images. 5 for the foreground with exposure times ranging between 1 minute and 4 minutes, F2.8, 1600-6400 ISO. 5 for the sky, 2 minutes each, F/4, 1600 ISO.

Gear used:  Canon 6D, Canon 24mm F/2.8, Hoya Starscape Light Pollution Filter, Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro

Captured: 5/15/21

June, Mt. Greylock, Adams, MA

This was one of my goal images for the year. Being a huge fan of the Berkshires, with most of my local photography occurring there, I knew I wanted to shoot Milkyway on top of Mount Greylock. Being an Astro photographer, much of my work is planned around the presence of light pollution.

In this image, I wanted to highlight how much light there truly is, even in an area as rural as the Berkshires. You can see the immense glow of lights on the ground sent up into the sky, with a thin barrier of clouds blocking the light from reaching the sky. Thankfully those clouds blocked out some of the light, because otherwise it would have been extremely difficult to even see the milkyway.

This image is a composite blend of multiple image. A focus stack of 6 images of differing exposure lengths for the foreground, largely due to the presence of the overly bright street lights. The sky was 5 images stacked and tracked at 2 minutes 15 seconds, F/4, ISO 1600.

Gear Used: Canon 6D, Canon 24mm F/2.8, Hoya Starscape Light Pollution Filter, Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro

Captured: 6/11/21

July, The Beehive, Acadia NP, ME

For my birthday, I decided to go on a solo trip back to Acadia National Park. I had hoped for clear skies to shoot Milkyway, but unfortunately wasn’t awarded with those conditions. Ever since I have visited Acadia for photography, I have wanted to see if with moody conditions. On my last day there, a tropical storm was marching up the East coast providing some of the most dramatic shooting conditions I have ever had.

I felt like a kid in a candy store, racing around a pretty much empty park (which is rare in the Summer time), visiting all of my favorite spots, including Sand Beach, Boulder Beach, and Jordan Pond among others. If I could have these conditions every day, but have clear skies at night I think I’d be in heaven.

Gear Used: Canon R6, Canon 24mm F/2.8, Freewell 2-5 stop Variable ND filter.

Captured: 7/9/21

August, Tannery Falls, Savoy, MA

This past summer provided a ton of rain for the local brooks and streams, almost too much water at times. Typically during the summer, this waterfall would be extremely dry, with just a trickle pouring over the cascades.

I met my friend Journe up in Savoy for a day of crawling through these cascades, in what felt like the Pacific Northwest. Vibrant green moss and foligage surrounding the rushing waterfalls, providing such a rare sight at one of my favorite sets of waterfalls in New England.

Gear Used: Canon R6, Canon 24mm F/2.8, Freewell 2-5 stop Variable ND filter.

Captured: 7/18/21

September, Great North Woods, NH

On a whim, at the beginning of Fall, I decided to head up to the Great North Woods in Northern New Hampshire. After some confirmation that there would be close to peak Fall foliage from a few friends, I decided to drive up, sleep in my car, rise before the sun and attempt to find a moose in the famous Moose Alley.

After waking up, I quickly found the area blanketed in fog, which typically provides dramatic sunrises. While no moose were seen, and not even any signs of moose, I threw my drone in the air for sunrise. The pine trees on the ground mixed with the foliage of the hills provided one of my favorite sunrise photos to date. I’m so happy that I decided to take the drive and risk getting lost in the middle of some old logging roads for this image.

This is vertical panorama, shot with my DJI Mavic 2 drone.

Captured: 9/29/21

October, Florida, MA

Towards the end of Fall foliage season in Western Massachusetts, which unfortunately was extremely dull and got cut short by a powerful windstorm, I met a large group of friends at one of my favorite places to catch the sun rise.

As the Sun rose above the cascading hills of Charlemont and beyond, its light was dispersed in rays lighting up some of the small peaks in the area. One of the best sunrises I have seen, and a great way to wrap up a busy fall.

This is vertical panorama, shot with my DJI Mavic 2 drone.

Captured: 10/17/21

November, Yellowstone NP, WY

My first day in Yellowstone National Park, I liken to nature's Disney World. Upon entry into this paradise, I was thrown into the thick of things that I had only dreamed of. Rushing rivers, check. Mountains, Check. Wildlife, beyond check. 

The first wildlife I saw after entering the west gate, was a herd of Bison. These massive creatures blew me away, but upon being in the park for maybe 2 hours, I had the closest encounter with grizzlies I think I may ever have. Now the west is known for its' "Bear Jams" which are traffic jams caused by bears or other wildlife. This was the case, but we arrived when a small crowd gathered. 

A mother grizzly and her two yearlings were eating bugs. They came to about 70 yards away and it began to snow. I gathered a few images, then moved on to leave them be. Such incredible animals and I hope to safely get that close again some day. 

Gear Used: Canon 6D, Sigma 150-600.

Captured: 5/11/21

December, Saville Dam, Barkhamsted, CT

After a day of photographing wolves at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY, I decided to stop at the famous Saville Dam in Barkhamsted, CT. 

As I arrived, a snow squall occured blanketing the area in light snow, providing a scene out of a mix of Harry Potter and a Hallmark movie. 

Gear Used: Canon 6D, Canon 24mm F/2.8.

Captured: 12/20/20

Cover Image, Grand Teton NP, WY

The bucket shot of my west trip. Going to Wyoming I had one goal in mind: capture the Milkyway with the Tetons, a reflection, and pine trees. This shot encapsulated all of those things, and the shot will live on as one of my favorites I've ever taken. 

I planned every step of this shot prior to the trip while at home one night. Using a photography planning tool and multiple weather apps, I found that the first night of my trip would be the night to make it happen. Clear skies, and a calm reflection provided me with one of my favorite night sky observations yet and it's the image I look to whenever I want to see the results of hard work, and dedication.

Gear Used: Canon 6D, Sigma 14-24mm F/2.8, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer Pro.

Captured: 5/10/21