Rogue Shadow Photography

09/03/2026

The Milky Way Rising Above the Red River

I captured this image of the Milky Way core perking through the trees in the distance. I planned this shot out, using the PhotoPills and PlanIt Pro apps. I waded about waist deep into the water to set up my camera and tripod. I used an intervelometer to shoot a series of images for about 45 min. I didn't want to stand in the water that long. Also, I had a small water snake that kept trying to run me off! 😂 I kept the best 20 images from the sequence, stacked them, and blended with a few images I light- painted with my flashlight.

Sky
Nikon D780
Nikon 14mm 2.8
2.8 17sec ISO 1600 X 20

08/30/2026

I bet this is gonna be an epic screening!

Saturday evening's 11 p.m. screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Kentucky Theatre is sold out.

08/27/2026

This is what happens when you leave me at work unsupervised!!! I log the tv onto Disney+ and watch Muppets: Treasure Island!!!😂😂😂. RIP Tim Curry!

08/26/2026

The Blood Moon over the Half Moon

With the upcoming lunar eclipse approaching in a few days, I wanted to reshare this lunar eclipse image I captured back in May of 2022. I hiked out to Chimney Top overlook to observe and photograph the eclipse from this location. My intended composition was to get the "blood moon" over top of Half Moon Rock. I used the Photopills and Plan It Pro apps to confirm the alignment. I was nervous for the first half of the evening. Clouds were roaming the skies and I was worried the moon would be obscured during the eclipse. Luckily the moon had risen to a higher altitude above the low-laying clouds shortly before the eclipse started to shift from white to red!
DarkSky KY

08/22/2026

Center of the Milky Way #2

This image contains a rich section of the Milky Way core and the Sagittarius–Scorpius region, showcasing several iconic deep-sky objects, emission nebulae, and star clouds. I captured this image with an 85mm f/1.8 Nikon lens.

Prominent Deep-Sky Objects & Nebulae

Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8 / NGC 6523): The large, bright pink/magenta emission nebula located in the lower-middle portion of the frame.

Trifid Nebula (Messier 20 / NGC 6514): Directly above the Lagoon Nebula, visible as a smaller pinkish nebula (with subtle blue reflection components).

Open Cluster Messier 21 (NGC 6531): The compact cluster of stars situated just northeast (upper right) of the Trifid Nebula.

Eagle Nebula (Messier 16 / NGC 6611): The uppermost bright pink emission nebula located toward the top-left section of the star lane.

Omega / Swan Nebula (Messier 17 / NGC 6618): The bright pink emission nebula located just below the Eagle Nebula in the upper-left quadrant.

Messier 24 (Small Sagittarius Star Cloud): The dense, glowing expanse of stars surrounding the middle-left area, between M17/M16 and M8/M20.

Dark Nebulae & Background Features

The Great Rift / Dark Dust Lanes: The intricate, dark silhouettes running across the center are interstellar dust clouds obscuring the dense background stars of the galactic plane (including portions of the Pipe Nebula and Barnard dark nebulae complex).

The Dark Horse Nebula is on the right side of the image.

Sagittarius & Scutum Star Clouds: The vast, golden-hued background glow consisting of millions of unresolved stars in the inner spiral arms toward the Galactic Center.





DarkSky KY

08/21/2026

The Center of our Galaxy

Here's an image I got of the Milky Way's galactic corp a while back with my "Nifty Fifty" lens. This is a single shot with an exposure time of 2 minutes. I used my Star Adventurer 2i Pro to track the sky and keep the stars sharp for two minutes.

Nikon D780
Nikon 50mm 1.8
f/2.8 120 sec ISO 640
Star Adventurer 2i Pro star tracker

08/21/2026

The Milky Way above Chimney Top Rock

I captured this shot of the Milky Way over Chimney Top a few months back. I think this was in mid-April? I was doing some tests with a mirrorless camera. I rented a Nikon Z7II with a 24-70mm 2.8 Z for some testing. I've been thinking about possibly transitioning to the mirrorless platform. Honestly I wasn't that impressed with the camera, or the glass. I didn't think the image quality lived up to the hype. I'm not a fan of the colour profiles on the Z model platform compared to older Nikon's like the D200 and D700. There were a few ergonomics I didn't prefer also. Point of story, I didn't see enough of an improvement with mirrorless cameras compared to my Nikon DSLRs to sway me over to the mirrorless platform. I think for now I'll stick with my D780, D750 and other SLR bodies.