Big Sky Nights

I have always loved the night sky. Looking into the heavens, I feel a connection with everyone who, for thousands of years, has doubtlessly asked many of the same questions that I have today. Are we alone? How far does the universe extend? What wondrous things lie beyond the reach of our most powerful telescopes that we cannot begin to imagine?

In this series of images, I have attempted to show both the celestial and the terrestrial, combining the beauty of two very different worlds. Whether I'm camping beside an alpine lake, waiting for the complete darkness of a summer night to capture the reflection of the Milky Way, or standing in a winter river watching a crescent moon rise, each night has a different feel. I often hear owls calling to each other, have had encounters with all sorts of animals, from elk to bears, and once watched a family of raccoons crawl from the broken window of an abandoned, prairie homestead.

Part of what draws me to capturing the world after dark is the ability to share natural beauty that so often goes unseen. It's a solitary pursuit - spending time in Montana's wilderness in the dead of night - but it's rewarding, yielding photographs of how I see pieces of this universe. It puts my life and work in perspective, lending a sense of both the vastness of our galaxy and the importance of using my time here to do what I love.

There are over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, and NASA now estimates that there are as many as 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. It's hard to get my mind around numbers and distances so large, and I hope that we never unravel all the mysteries, leaving open the possibility for a bit of magic in the night sky.