Eastern Sierra Summer Skies

Near Bishop, CA the night skies are super dark. Far from any ambient light of surrounding big cities, being on the Eastside is around the best places to be during a new moon.

Tahoe Cove Moonrise

By day, Tahoe is miraculously beautiful; by night, the same. Here is a 3/4 moon just cresting the hill on the Nevada side amidst a cloud covered sky with a sailboat in the foreground who's found a rather tranquil anchorage to watch the show.

Temple at the Mala

Use with written permission only. www.JimNevill.com

Milky Way Over Historic Bodega, CA

Alfred Hitchcock made the Potter Schoolhouse famous in the 1963 film, The Birds and Ansel Adams photographed St. Teresa of Avila in the 1953 while passing through. Since then, both buildings have become Sonoma County treasures. Despite being photographed countless times, this one of a kind perspective was taken from the apex of my rooftop, on a widow’s walk half a mile away. I shot the photo at night because the stars in Bodega are incredible, and it better tells the historical tale of these 1800’s structures. This is a single exposure image, no overlay, bracketing or HDR. This photograph was first published in "The Press Democrat" on December 18, 2012, accompanied by a full page article written by Andrea Granahan. In July 2013 it won first place in Congressman Jared Huffman's 2nd District Landscape Photo Competition.

Super Moon Over Santa Rosa

November 14, 2016.

Starlight Over Bodega Bay

In the wee hours of October 21, 2019 I went out trying to eek out a meteor photo from the Orionid shower. I wanted to compose an image that had an urban foreground which proved difficult since the meteors were radiating from the southeast, which for me faces San Francisco and a ton of ambient light pollution. In addition the moon would soon rise further lowering the chances of a darkened sky. A few little ones came across while my shutter was open (bottom right) but not much chance to see them on film. I still like the result on this calm night, hope you do too.

Milky Way Over Coastal Oaks

I've always loved oak trees. They remind me of home back on Long Island, NY but they also represent strength, warmth and seasonal change. At this particular location you can see this black oak perched on a cliff edge with the coast in the distance and the glorious Milky Way in true form overhead.

Tahoe Beach Starscape

The western shore of Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places in all of California. The dark skies, sandy white beaches, pine aroma and incredible blue tones of the Lake make it world class by any comparison. In this shot the Milky Way in the western sky over the tops of a Lodgepole and Tamarac pines are intoxicatingly serene.

Milky Way Over the Tuolumne River

It's no secret how much I love Yosemite. Because of my work leading teens on wilderness trips I have had the opportunity to visit the park dozens of times. On this trip, long after the students were snuggled in their tents and my co-leaders were on watch - I hiked out into the dark night seeking scenes like this to shoot. The Milky Way was plainly visible and the Tuolumne River flowed gently and clear which allowed me to light it with my headlamp, illuminating the submerged river rocks.

Lunar Eclipse Supermoon Over Wine Country

9/27/15, the ‪#‎supermoon‬ eclipses over top of Sonoma Mountain, a vineyard and oak trees near Santa Rosa, CA. We made it a family affair, kids ate Chinese takeout on the roof of the minivan while we watched to show. It was pretty super.

Arch Rock

The process of photographing well known locations is intimidating for me. I have spent many years (20 to be exact) visiting this Sonoma Coast location and as a result have a huge respect for its power and beauty. I have seen a lot of great work done here by other photographers and I wasn't willing to show up and repeat their good ideas. In general I try and find my unique voice in daily life and hopefully accomplished that with this arching starscape over the aquatic arch. This is a single long exposure, no HDR - just time and experimentation.

Star Fall

Shot at Eagle Falls on the west shore of Lake Tahoe on the evening of 11/17/14. I have been dreaming of shooting waterfalls under starlight for a while now but for some reason it seems that I end up going to waterfall locations on cloudy nights or during full moons which over-illuminate the dark skies. This time I was onsite when the conditions were perfect for star shots, a sub 20 degree night with clear skies and light winds. I descended 60' or so down a steep boulder field in the darkness hoping to find a vantage point to set up the shot. Until this night I had never done this climb nor heard of anyone else doing it so finding the route down was tricky. Luckily there were some tree roots dangling over the edge so I was able to down climb those as well. When I arrived at the scene I cheered out loud (alone in the woods) and found a location to set up my tripod. The tripod barely fit on the rock outcropping so I was forced to stand on a neighboring boulder and take the photo with a shutter release cable.

Blood Moon - October 2014

This is the October 8, 2014 'Blood Moon' - It's called that because, when viewed from certain angles during a total lunar eclipse, the color red is refracted across the face of the Moon and causes it to take on an eerie, red glow when observed from Earth. There is no color alteration here, just the purple afterglow of the recently set sun. More commonly known as the "Harvest Moon" which is a full moon occurring in autumn, in the Northern Hemisphere usually in September and October respectively. The "Harvest Moon" is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (22 or 23 September), and the "Hunter's Moon" is the one following it.

Bristlecone Elder

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a protected area high in the White Mountains in Inyo County in eastern California. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) trees grow between 9,800 and 11,000 feet (3,000–3,400 m) above sea level. In this forest you will find the oldest living things on Earth. These ancient trees live to over 5000 years old and grow on a steep and rocky mountainside at the upper edges of the Mojave Desert.

Milky Way in the Vineyard

I waited -- and waited -- and waited -- from 1AM to 4AM n August 12, 2015 for a meteor to fly. While taking 169 exposures, each lasting 25 seconds, at least a dozen times throughout the night a Perseid Meteor would streak across the sky just seconds after my shutter closed. Despite the lack of shooting star I really like the composition of this moment which includes chardonnay grapes lit by my led headlamp and a lone redwood tree.

Yosemite Falls By Starlight

I shot this during a full moon - which is why the rock face and waterfall are so lit-up. Generally, full moons are the last thing you want for star photos but in the case of Yosemite National Park - everything is awesome all the time.

Road to Oblivion

Shot near an ancient redwood grove in Sonoma County, CA on August 10, 2013 during the Perseid meteor shower, on a completely black night. The Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. I chose to compose the gravel road and grasslands into the shot to make it seem more like the photo went off into nothingness.

Star Trails Over Honolua

Star Trails over Honolua - One of my favorite places on Earth, H-Bay faces the dark north Pacific and it's outer sister island, Molokai. The stars are immense and the perfection of this place is unmatched. I lit the sign with the lights from my jeep.

Star Trails Over The Potter Schoolhouse

This photo was taken the evening of January 1, 2014 during a very rare celestial event, New Moon on New Years Day. Built in 1873, the house was originally the Potter Schoolhouse, then a local community center, an inn, a restaurant, and a guesthouse. It’s now a private residence, Hitchcock saved the property in 1963 with the filming of "The Birds". The redwood building had been abandoned the year before he decided to film. The bright lights to the right side of the frame are from downtown Bodega, CA. The darker sky to the top left is the Milky Way.

One Foot In, One Foot Out

The Tree of Life looks Photoshopped - but its not. This is a single exposure taken on a still, dark night. The color results from headlamps brushing light across the scene during a 30 second exposure.

Milky Way & Redwoods

Nights like this are as awesome in real life as they look in photos. Among my favorite things about shooting at night is the ability for teh camera to perceive things that the human eye cannot. Over the duration of 25 seconds, at f/3 or better, with high ISO the camera sees all this color and detail. To us it looks like a bright starry night with a milky way dust cloud striped across the sky - to the camera, much more.

Super Moon on Cloud Nine

(July 13, 2014) - I only had time to shoot about a dozen frames before this lunar rise got too high above the horizon. This frame, shot at 480mm, caught a passing cloud structure that appeared to look like a spinal cord -creating the illusion that the moon laid in front of clouds (which impossibly would have put the clouds out in space behind the moon). A supermoon is when a full moon is the closest to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy. The term "supermoon" is not astronomical, but originated in modern astrology.