Skylar Pettingill Photography

12/02/2025

05/16/2024

Acadia National Park underneath the greatest show on earth. ⁣⁣⁣
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It’s still hard to believe we got a storm this strong. As soon as I heard we were getting a potential G5 solar storm I started jumping in excitement. This could finally be the chance to capture the Aurora in Acadia. After moving away for school and hockey I’ve been trying to get an image like this for over 7 years. Saturday night out of sheer luck and a lot of educational guesses. I was able to capture my most incredible landscape image so far. ⁣⁣⁣
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During the first night of the storm on Friday, I had driven all the way up to Acadia just to realize there wasn’t going to be a break in the clouds like predicted. I ended up turning around and heading for Casco where I was able to capture images of the Aurora, but nothing quite like this. ⁣⁣⁣
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The following day Saturday, I looked over my images and determined that tonight was going to be all or nothing. I had been dying for a shot like this for years so I decided to risk it despite the weather reports. The forecast called for clouds starting at 10pm and complete cloud coverage by 11pm when I would arrive. Once I finally got onto Mount Desert Island, I realized the stars were still visible. It would stay clear till the aurora started to fade out at 1:30am. During that time I was able to capture this 6 image panorama of Gorham Mountain, Beehive, and Sand Beach. I still can’t believe I finally did it. A lot of work, anticipation, and failed attempts went into getting this image. Sometimes you just have that gut feeling and you gotta trust it. Between this and the eclipse it has been the most rewarding photo year of my life. So grateful to be giving these opportunities to capture such insanely rare events.⁣
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In total this weekend I had 2 all nighters, 4.5 hours of sleep, drove 720 miles for 12 hours, and spent countless hours observing the NOAA, Satellite weather reports. To say it was worth it is an understatement. One of the best nights of my life.⁣ Prints available by DM.
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Captured on my Nikon Z6, Sigma 35
Settings 8 seconds, ISO 800, f1.4, 6 images
Storm Data Saturday night, 5/11/24: KP 7 (G3) storm
Limited Data due to satellites down.

04/09/2024

What an unbelievable experience. I wasn’t sure if it would be worth the hike up to Rangeley for totality but this was a layup. When you have all the gear needed to capture an event like this and it’s in your home state, you kinda have to go right!? Boy, am I glad I did. I told myself a few years back I would go and thankfully stuck to it.

Now having experienced this I would travel across the country just for another minute in a mountain location. It’s so hard to describe the feeling, I honestly still can’t! Nothing on this earth could be more otherworldly. Sorry for those who get fomo but you just had to be there to understand. Surrounded by 360 degrees of sunset while you’re able to see stars and planets during the day is something I will never forget.

I had never shot anything like this before so it was quite tricky. Thankfully I was able to capture the best shots I’ve ever taken. In the moment I kept having to remind myself to hit the timer for the shutter. As I was quite little was freaking out in aww. I wanted to take in the moment while still covering it.

I had no idea what I got for photos till after it was over. Once I checked my camera my jaw hit the floor, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Afterwards, it was so surreally talking to everyone who experienced it with you. Words cannot describe the moment. Those who get it were there and those that don’t, didn’t go. So incredibly grateful for this. Prints are available by DM.

Settings: 1/1000 sec. F/8. 1600 ISO. 300mm in Dx mode 450mm equivalent.

06/15/2023

09/22/2022

Took this panorama back in June during a new moon. I combined about 12 photos to make up the whole image. Definitely my favorite pano to date. On side note it’s unbelievable how much Instagram compressed this photo. If you’d like to see the compressed version I will be putting it up on my website soon!

08/11/2022

Before I got a 35mm 1.4 my only wider angle lens was a Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5 and for you photographers you know that is not ideal for shooting Astro. I had to bump up my iso to make up for the higher aperture. I new it wasn’t gonna be the cleanest image ever but I decided to try it anyways. I’ve been going back and forth trying do decide wether I should put it on here. I may keep up I may delete it but one thing I do know is that I’m banking on the Instagram compression to soften up the image enough to hide some of the noise. I normally wouldn’t post this due to the image quality not being really passable. But it’s a unique shot that has “character” from the lens. One thing that stuck out to me was how the brighter stars seemed to refract. It’s just different, would love to try this again with my 35 now.

05/07/2022

Honestly probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. If you told me I’d shoot a and concert this year I’d say you were crazy. Talk about grateful. Half way through ‘s set it started to absolutely down pour, yet it made the photos even better. Wish I could post more than ten at once… Gallery linked in bio!

12/16/2021

A couple photos of Portland Head Light. The one on the left was this morning’s sunrise. It had taken forever to get a solid shot at sunrise during high tide. The right one was taken last week just after the sun had set.

If you have interest in purchasing a print, shoot me a message or email! Website will be up momentarily!

Facebooks compression is affecting these photos quite a bit. They’re pretty blurry just know they are tack sharp on my computer and prints.

12/25/2020

Like most things in life nothing’s certain. Today and I were reminded of that. Texting back and forth until 1:30 am the night before. We couldn’t decide if it was worth driving to Cape Neddick as the forecast called for 90% cloud cover.
We said why not go and decided to shoot on a whim. Expecting a thick cover of clouds, the complete opposite happened. The sky opened up and gave us one heck of a sunrise. Sometimes in life you just have to out on a whim and take risks. Because with out risks there’s no reward.

08/31/2019

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