I grew up always questioning the world around me, trying to figure it out and spending a lot my time learning how things worked and drawing fanciful inventions that would change the world. Science of things unknown inspired me to learn. The largest source of inspiration for me came from the universe. For a number of years I ran a science blog as a way to distill the flood of science news in the world and to inspire others to embrace the world of science and skepticism. Running the blog eventually became too time consuming, so I moved away from this to focus on my Bachelor’s degree. As my time spent blogging decreased, my time spent studying and the desire for travel and photography filled that void. Towards the end of my college years, I caught the travel bug and started exploring Arizona. I also spent most of my time stargazing and watching Earth plow in to space dust. The meteor shower image (left) were taken in 2014 from my favorite location in Tucson; Windy Point Vista on Mt Lemmon.

These were among the first images I took after I seriously started learning how to capture the night sky with my beginners Nikon (D5100) and kit-lens. In 2015, I graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and a minor in Biochemistry and kicked off my graduation with a spontaneous road trip across the country. Since then I’ve used my weekends for road-tripping to Arizona’s neighboring states and even to Idaho for the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. If you’ve never seen a total solar eclipse, it’s a life changing experience. Absolutely worth the drive from Tucson to Idaho in a weekend. The picture (right), or really any picture, does it no justice.

Traveling by road so often, both for work and for fun, has made my car my second home. It has enabled me to see and do so much in a handful of years. The nature of night photography involves many nights waking up at midnight to capture the Milkyway, so it became easier (and much cheaper) to simply sleep in my vehicle on location. This allowed me capture the night sky more often. Regardless of unfortunate moon cycles, cloudy weekends, or whether I had to be at work in the morning, I can make the most of the fleeting Milkyway season, get the sleep I need, be ready for work on time and save a ton on money. Win win!

My photography has been heavily influenced by other photographers such as Sean Parker (local Tucson astrophotographer), Ian Norman (whom I met during the eclipse), Michael Shainblum, Reuben Wu, Yuri Beletsky, Dave Morrow, Ryan Dyar, Michal Karcz, and Benjamin Everett.