Forever of the Stars Photography

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Orchard, CO
Forever of the Stars Photography

Photographer based out of Erie, Colorado focused on landscape astrophotography and nightscapes!

05/11/2026

Pastel star trails of Lake Manly at Badwater Basin. I let the star trails drift into twilight by mistake. Oops. Sadly this likely caused the star trail reflections to disappear. On the other hand the trails were super colorful which I leaned into when processing this image.

Panasonic S1Rii + 24-105mm f4
Live Composite Mode: 85 minutes
24mm f4 iso1000

04/19/2026

Happy International Darksky Week!

"Fading to Blue Hour"

Standing out in a Lake Manly for over 5 hours until after sunrise was a truly unique experience. My shoes and the tips of my tripod were caked in salt and I felt a little wet brined. Well worth the experience! Capturing this panorama and many more afterwards!

I was a bit worried since this panorama didn't initial stitch correctly which literally looked broken in half at one point. It required some manual intervention, but it turned out great! Blending a blue hour shot was challenging, but as you can tell I was running out of time near the left side of the Milky Way hence calling this "Fading to Blue Hour."

Tracked / Stacked / Blue Hour Blend Pano
Panasonic S5a + 14-24mm f2.8 + MSM Nomad
Sky: 10 x 3min (portrait) f2.8 iso640
Foreground (blue hour): 7 x 3.2s - 6s f5.6 iso640
Edit: PTGUI, Darktable, Siril, and Gimp

04/03/2026

While less dense than the Milky Way Core, the Cygnus region is vibrant containing many open star clusters, stars like Deneb and Vega, and nebulae including North America Nebula (NGC 7000) sitting directly above the kiln. After researching the area on the planning tools, I thought this was a unique target to capture with alignment of these historical kilns.

Panasonic S5a + Sigma 35mm f1.2 dg ii
Tracked / Stacked / Blended
Sky: 5x3min f2.2 iso640
Foreground: 1x3min f4 iso1250
Edited: Siril w/ SyQon Starless + Prism + Veralux Star Recomposer, Darktable, and Gimp

03/30/2026

These beehive-shaped charcoal kilns were built in 1877. The purpose was fuel for smelters for nearby lead & silver mines. However, alternative fuel sources were found and these likely weren't operation after 2 years of use. This likely explains why they are great shape after all this time.

More on the kilns in the next image coming soon!

This is a composite image. I'm not a fan of composites where the alignment of the sky and foreground don't match. The Milky Way core in reality is out of frame on the right. I was excited to try this lens that was not wide enough for the scene. I took the tracked shot and a decided on this foreground.

EXIF:
Tacked / Stacked / Composite
Panasonic S5a + Sigma 35mm f1.2 dg ii
Sky: 2x3min f2.2 iso640
Foreground: 1x3min f4 iso2000

11/20/2025

Aurora Panorama!

Captured the entirety of the Aurora. Orion's Belt is showing off on the right hand side. If you look closely one frame was shared in my previous post. Wonderful evening with great conditions!

Panasonic S1Rii + Sigma 14-24mm
10x portrait 14mm f2.8 6s iso800
Edit: Darktable & Gimp

DarkSky Colorado

11/17/2025

Last week (11-11-2025) a large geomagnetic storm (G4/kp8.33) arrived putting a dazzling show here in Colorado. I landed at Jackson State State Park where the water was incredibly low. So low I hiked to this "shoreline" past not one, but two buoys. I found out this lake is used for farmer irrigation, but still oddly bizarre compared to last couple times here.

Conditions were great! Clear skies and calm water! There were some noisy geese, but otherwise quiet.

Mix of settings and lenses. Panasonic S5a + Panasonic SR1ii with Sigma 14-24mm, Panasonic 24-105mm and Sigma 20mm.

DarkSky Colorado

10/12/2025

A week ago I chased Fall Colors in Southwest Colorado. On a clear night there was a chance to capture Orion and the Winter Milky Way. Courthouse and Chimney Rock are often seen from Deb's Meadow from the movie True Grit. This is from a different spot along Owl Creek Pass which offered a different vantage point.

Panasonic S5a + Sigma 20mm f1.4
Tracked / Blended
Sky: 5 min f2.8 iso640
Foreground: 5 min f4 iso640
Edit: Darktable, Siril, Cosmic Clarity, Gimp

07/06/2025

Capture the Dark is a yearly photography contest put on by DarkSky International. It's split into 8 categories with 3 entries per category allowed. I've entered a few photos into a two categories. Judges will deliberate until a winner per category is picked. There's a people's choice award as well. That's where you can help! You can vote once per category per day. Check out my entries and all other 2000+ entries in the links below!

DarkSky International DarkSky Colorado

07/04/2025

Here's another shot from my recent camping trip to San Juan Mountain range. There was a pull off near the campsite where these craggy peaks appeared! Most peaks in the Colorado Rockies tend to be smooth unlike most of the Canadian Rockies which are much more ragged and sharp.

Panasonic S1Rii + Sigma 40mm f1.4 + MSM Nomad
Tracked / Stacked / Blended / Pano (mini)
Sky: 180s f2.8 iso400 (4 portrait panels)
Foreground: 180s f2.8 iso400 (3 landscape panels)
Processed: Darktable, Siril, Starnet++, CosmicClarity, PTGUI, and Gimp

06/27/2025

Don't Look Down!

A 700 feet spire sticks out of the Gunnison River at the upper reaches of the Black Canyon of Gunnison. The spire once made famous by an old rail-line that ran next to river is now part of the Curecanti area. Curcanti is now DarkSky certified.

Panasonic S5a + Sigma 20mm f1.4 + MSM Nomad
Sky: Tracked 4x180s f4 iso640
Foreground: 3x vertical panorama 180s f2.8 iso1250
Processed: Darktable, Siril, CosmicCalartiy, Starnet++, and GIMP

Address

26363 County Road 3
Orchard, CO
80649

Website

https://www.foreverofthestars.photography/

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