Christopher Neal Photography

10/18/2026

South Point Marsh - The Milky Way slowly sinking below the horizon from the marshes of the south point of Ocracoke Island. If you are willing to do battle with the hordes of mosquitoes you can stand here in the darkness and get lost in the endless stars above you.

10/16/2026

Road to the End - Just down the road is the south point of Ocracoke Island, the end of the Outer Banks. Beyond is Portsmouth Island and the beginning of Core Banks but on this night it felt like this road let straight to the core of the Milky Way. It always amazes me how dark this place really is, if it wasn’t for the light pollution from Morehead City on the horizon you could imagine being here 100 years ago.

10/14/2026

Lighting The Way - The Milky Way rising behind the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse. I have been trying to figure how to get a shot of the Milky Way with this lighthouse for years. The problem is that although the sky is very dark around it it’s in the middle of a neighborhood, surrounded by houses and trees. This pass weekend as I walked around the island waiting for the rain to clear so we could go fishing there it was, now all I needed was some clear sky.

Monday night with the remains of Isaias finally gone, I had perfect conditions, except for the horde of mosquitos of course. I had lost all hopes of getting anymore Milky Way shots this year, especially when a hurricane appeared days before we planned on leaving. It’s all part of the Outer Banks experience.

09/27/2026

Fall Is Coming - You can’t really see it when you look up but if you can look down, especially in the golden light of sunset you can see the leaves starting to change. I did a little drone photography on the Great P*e Dee yesterday afternoon and the view was spectacular.

09/27/2026

I took the drone out on the Great P*e Dee River yesterday afternoon.

A short after noon flight along the Great P*e Dee River in the Mill...

09/27/2026

Harvest Moon - Tonights full moon is the known as the Harvest Moon. I caught it rising over the trees and decided to share.

09/06/2026

Standing Above The Basin - I’ve been trying to capture the Milky Way from this spot for several years and Friday night it all came together. There were a few clouds but I was able to try a vertical pano with my new Tamron 35-150. The lights on the horizon are from Bald Head Island, Oak Island and Southport.

08/23/2026

I decided see how well a single image will hold up to a full edit now that we can apply AI denoise.

I show you how I process a single astro landscape image from start ...

08/16/2026

https://www.christophernealphotography.com/the-astro-landscape-podcast

05/29/2026

Rolling In - I was shooting some 360 video from the top of the office Wednesday and caught this storm cell rolling in. It passed just to the north of us and soaked Florence