Astro Mammoth Studio

08/16/2026

It’s been a while since I’ve shared anything here. I’ve been pretty busy this summer, but yesterday I finally had a chance to take a quick walk around the yard with my camera.

To my surprise, I came across both a dragonfly and a jumping spider, and I managed to photograph each of them right after they caught something and were having a meal.

The dragonfly was especially cooperative. It flew up, caught a fly, and then landed right back in front of me for this image.

The jumping spider was even more interesting. It appears to be eating another, much smaller jumping spider. Nature can be pretty brutal when you start looking closely.

Sorry to anyone who doesn’t like spiders.

07/15/2026

Last night was a battle from start to finish.

My original plan was to photograph the Milky Way from Plank Road at Rio Dam, but when I arrived, the water was much higher than expected and the composition I had in mind just wasn't possible.

With Plan A out the window, I decided to check out the new boat launch at Mongaup Falls. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be able to get far enough out for a clear southern view, but to my surprise, the launch opened up just enough to reveal the southern sky over the lake.

The conditions weren't making things easy. Low clouds drifted through for much of the night, and with the humidity hovering around 80% or more, a layer of haze hung over the sky the entire time. It never completely cleared, but by using a star tracker with my Canon R5 and stacking about an hour of exposures, I was able to bring out much more detail than a single image could capture.

I probably also gave a couple of fishermen a story to tell. Around 10 PM, as they were getting their boat loaded up to leave, they were greeted by someone walking down the boat ramp with a flashlight in one hand and a Canon R5 mounted on a star tracker and tripod in the other. I'm sure they weren't expecting to see anyone heading toward the water at that hour! They probably left wondering what in the world I was doing.

This final image is a blend of a single foreground exposure overlooking the southern end of the lake and roughly an hour of tracked and stacked exposures of the sky. It wasn't the night I originally planned, but adapting to the conditions led me to a new location and a Milky Way image I'm really happy with.

📍 Mongaup Falls Boat Launch, Forestburgh, New York

07/10/2026

On our last morning at Assateague Island, we headed to the beach before sunrise hoping to capture the sunrise over the Atlantic.

Instead, we were rewarded with something even better, a small group of the island's wild horses standing quietly on the beach.

After what felt like an endless walk down the shoreline, I finally reached them and was able to capture these photos. They weren't doing anything dramatic, just standing along the beach, but it was still a special way to wrap up our trip.

The second image was taken a little later after sunrise from a different angle, with the sun directly behind the horses. A light rain had started to fall, and I was trying to capture the raindrops while keeping the waves breaking in the background. It was one of those moments where the changing conditions created a completely different image just a few minutes later.

06/20/2026

Happy American Eagle Day!

Today I’m sharing three more moments from my visit to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year.

Image 1: shows an Immature Bald Eagle carrying off a fish after a successful catch, held in just one foot. Which was an interesting moment to capture.

Image 2: captures an interaction between two adult bald eagles on the mud flat, with one bird noticeably more vocal than the other.

Image 3: freezes the moment an eagle reaches the water during a fishing attempt, wings fully spread as water splashes up around its feet.

The bald eagle remains one of North America’s most recognizable birds and one of conservation’s greatest success stories. It’s always a privilege to observe and photograph these raptors in the wild.

Which image stands out to you most?

06/16/2026

I've added 10 new wildlife images to my print collection and put together a short slideshow featuring the latest additions.

The collection includes bald eagles, owls, a coyote, and other birds of prey captured during my time in the field.

Watch the video slideshow below and let me know which image is your favorite!

Explore 10 new wildlife photographs now available as prints from As...

06/11/2026

I've been experimenting with black-and-white processing and exploring how much a photograph can change when distractions are minimized through tonal adjustments.

These two bald eagle images take opposite approaches. In the first, I pushed the background to pure black, allowing the textures of the feathers, the shape of the beak, and the intensity of the eagle's gaze to take center stage. In the second, I brightened the background until it became pure white, reducing the scene to its simplest elements: an eagle, a small patch of land, and its reflection.

Rather than replacing the backgrounds, I used exposure and tonal control to simplify the scene. As the surroundings fade into black or white, the focus shifts away from where the eagle was and onto what it is. One image feels bold and commanding, while the other feels quiet and minimalist, yet both reveal details and shapes that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Wildlife photography often celebrates the landscape around the subject, but sometimes there's beauty in simplifying the tones and letting the subject stand on its own.

06/04/2026

Not every morning on a photography trip goes as planned, but this sunrise at Port Mahon, Delaware, was one of the moments that made the early alarm worth it.

As the first light of day began to spread across the horizon, the sky filled with soft colors while the calm waters of Delaware Bay took on a smooth, dreamlike appearance from the long exposure. The weathered pilings stood quietly in the water as the colors of sunrise stretched across the sky.

Capturing scenes like this is one of my favorite parts of traveling with a camera. It's not just about the photograph, but about being there in the stillness before most of the world is awake, watching a new day begin.

05/24/2026

Through a Fox’s Eyes

This fox ended up laying down just a few feet in front of me, completely calm and comfortable. It was licking its paws while keeping an eye on everything around it, and every time it looked up, those eyes immediately grabbed my attention.

The closer I looked at the photo later on, the more interesting it became. You can actually see the reflection of my friend’s white truck in the fox’s eyes, which made me wonder what it was focused on in that moment. I’m sure those eyes were keeping track of all the photographers taking photos, but it also may have been watching its kits near the den site. The funny part was that it barely seemed to care that I was the closest one to it. Maybe because I was also the quietest.

I decided to take this image into black and white because I felt like color was taking away from the mood of the portrait. Stripping it down to just light, shadow, texture, and expression gave it much more of a fine art feel to me. The focus became less about the colors of the fox and more about the emotion and detail in the face, especially the eyes.

I also liked how the tight crop simplified everything. Just the eyes, the fur, the whiskers, the paws, and that tiny bit of tongue showing. Nothing extra to pull your attention away from the moment.

Sometimes my favorite wildlife images are not the action shots, but the quieter moments that make you stop and study the animal a little longer.

05/23/2026

Just after lifting from the shallow marsh water, this bald eagle spread its wings wide as a small splash trailed behind its feet. Moments earlier it had been standing in the water feeding on a fish before taking back to the air in the warm evening light.

The low golden sun cast a yellow glow across the eagle from head to tail, while its reflection shimmered softly in the water below, blurred by the movement of the water.

A powerful moment captured at Bombay Hook.

05/20/2026

I wanted to try something different with one of my astrophotography images of the Andromeda Galaxy by turning it into a cinematic animation. It is not real-time footage.

Located approximately 2.5 million light-years away, Andromeda is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way and contains nearly one trillion stars. This project was created from my real astrophotography image and animated to bring the galaxy to life.

Watch here:

Experience the Andromeda Galaxy through a cinematic animation created from my astrophotography.Located approximately 2.5 million light-years away, Andromeda ...