Glenn Randall Photography

04/26/2026

Rainbows only form when the sun is low in the sky, which usually means early or late in the day. So how did a rainbow form over the Grand Canyon at high noon? Read the story of how I shot "Rainbow over the Grand Canyon" on my website at https://www.glennrandall.com/image-page-2x3-horizontal/rainbow-over-the-grand-canyon.

04/22/2026

For the first time in many years, I have begun adding an entirely new portfolio to glennrandall.com: Arizona landscapes. I've now added the first image to that portfolio: Sunrise from Maricopa Point. I'll be adding 11 more images to that portfolio over the next month or two. As always, each image will be accompanied by the story of how I created it and some details about what the image reveals about our extraordinary planet. You can check out the first image at https://www.glennrandall.com/image-page-2x3-horizontal/sunrise-from-maricopa-point.

Sunrise from Maricopa Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

12/03/2025

VoyageDenver just published a brief interview with me on its website. VoyageDenver produces profiles of interesting artists, craftsmen, musicians, and small-business owners. In the interview I talk about getting started as a freelance writer and photographer, my struggles along the way, and my advice to people who want to follow a similar path. You can check out my interview at

Today we’d like to introduce you to Glenn Randall. Hi Glenn, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?I started my career as a freelance writer and photographer speci...

11/21/2025

Rocky Nook, the publisher of my two how-to books on landscape photography, is offering a Black Friday special on joining The Nook, a new online community for creatives. Here's the deal: join now to start your free seven-day trial, then pay just $1 for the next month. After that, lock in a discounted rate of $15 per month for life. Once you're a member, you can learn from dozens of top-flight instructors and watch my webinar "Sunlight and Sky: Atmospheric Optics for Landscape Photographers" on January 13th. You can learn more and sign up here: https://www.thenookcommunity.com/?affiliate_code=25f91e
This offer expires December 5th.

11/15/2025

I just posted the story of my epic, eight-day photo shoot in southern Utah on my website. I called it "The Canyon Country Comet Adventure." Despite careful planning, the trip proved that Scottish poet Robert Burns was right back in 1785: "“The best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft astray.” You can read the story here:

By early October 2025, it was clear that Comet Lemmon C/2025 A6 was going to be the brightest comet of the year. During its grand tour of the solar system, it would be closest to Earth on October 21st. That date happened to coincide with new moon, creating ideal conditions for photographing the come...

11/12/2025

What a night! Even in Colorado, last night's auroras were spectacular. I'd never seen the aurora over Boulder before. Here's what it looked like from a vantage point near Fairview High School. I hope everyone got a chance to witness this rare event!

07/17/2025

My photo of the Geminid meteor shower over Dead Horse Point placed among the top 250 images in the latest Audubon Share the View contest. There were 2,441 images submitted. My photo is featured on the Share the View home page today. You can see it at https://sharetheview.contestvenue.com/.

Share the View is open to everyone worldwide, 18 years and up. Landscapes, wildlife, and nature from anywhere on earth qualify for entry. Proceeds benefit organizations supporting nature, conservation, and education around the world.

12/17/2024

Registration is now open for the 5th annual online Night Photo Summit, January 24-26, 2025. More than 35 presenters, including world-class photographers, authors, artists, astronomers, and national park activists, will be giving talks. I will teach attendees how to plan, shoot, and process photos of the March 13-14, 2025, lunar eclipse, visible throughout the United States. Astronomers, artists, authors, and photographers will be presenting talks on astro-modification, astrophysics, auroras, backcountry, drone lightning, light painting, lunar eclipses, lunar streaks, Milky Way, mobile night, maps, night portraits, panos, PixInsight, PTGui, star trackers, selling your art, weather apps, and timelapses. There will also be plenty of processing classes to help you level up your learning. The cost is $399. You can learn more and register at https://2025.nightphotosummit.com/?sc=9rECqF2S&ac=AgtgxmB7. I hope to see you online!

11/15/2024

It is an extraordinarily rare shoot when I am able to make the best image I can envision. Almost always, I fall well short. But not this time.
As Comet C/2023 A3, better known as Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, approached Earth after surviving its perilous passage around the sun, I began planning a shoot. The ultimate shot, as I envisioned it, would have several elements. The sky, of course, would have to be clear. The comet would have to be setting over some dramatic skyline. There would be a lake in the foreground to reflect the comet and the mountain backdrop. The wind would be calm, so the reflection would be sharp. Bright moonlight at just the right angle would create great detail in the land.
I used Starry Night to get data on the comet’s azimuth and altitude during the nights when it was expected to be at its brightest. I took that data to Photo Ephemeris Web to figure out where to go to see the comet setting over some dramatic skyline. To my delight, I discovered that on October 14, 2024, the comet would be setting over Flattop Mountain as seen from Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Not only would it be in the right direction; it would also be at the right altitude in degrees above the skyline. The nearly full moon would be rising to the southeast.
My wife Cora and I knew we would need an enormous amount of luck for all the elements to come together. On October 14th, in late afternoon, we drove to Sprague Lake, set up, and began waiting for sunset. Persistent clouds hung over Flattop Mountain and Hallett Peak. A steady breeze churned the surface of Sprague Lake. It seemed extremely unlikely that we would be able to make the ideal image I envisioned.
Sunset passed, and the sky began to grow dark. Clouds still blocked our view of the comet. The sole photographer who had set up nearby decided to leave. We were alone. As nautical dusk approached, the clouds began to dissipate and the wind grew calm. Slowly the comet emerged from the darkening sky. The nearly full moon, rising to the southeast, cast beautiful light on the dazzling scene before us. We photographed until the comet set behind Flattop Mountain, immensely grateful for our good fortune. It will be 80,000 years before Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS returns to our skies.

10/11/2024

On September 16, a forecast of a strong geomagnetic storm had lured me out of bed at 12:30 a.m. to try to shoot the aurora from Rainbow Curve, a scenic overlook on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. The result was disappointment, as you can see in my post from the same day, compounded by frustration when the promised geomagnetic storm arrived 12 hours late just as I was collapsing into bed, too late to get anywhere interesting to shoot. Another failed attempt to shoot the aurora in the San Juans a couple of weeks later, again on the basis of a promising forecast, convinced me that forecasting the aurora is an imperfect science. After those two failures, I was hopeful but skeptical when the Space Weather Prediction Center predicted a strong geomagnetic storm for the night of October 10-11. This time the result did not disappoint, as you can see in the photo below, taken from Rainbow Curve in Rocky Mountain National Park just before astronomical dusk. For a few brief minutes, we could even see the color of the aurora with our unaided eyes -- an astonishing sight!