Four-Years Ago (26-July-2008) — Colorado

Summertime in Colorado.

Summer Panorama — Cloud and Sky Reflections at a Lake in Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. The air was clear in northern Colorado, and the sky very blue.

Summer Panorama Cloud and Sky Reflections at a Lake in Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Composite of 3 images taken with a Nikon D3 and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Summer Panorama Cloud and Sky Reflections at a Lake in Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Composite of 3 images taken with a Nikon D3 and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (28-June-2012) — New Jersey

Montgomery Township New Jersey Independence Day Fireworks.

Montgomery Township in New Jersey typically has an Independence Day fireworks celebration several days before the 4th of July. This year it was almost a week earlier. I have a great location near my house that has a view that is above the high school where the fireworks are launched. This was the first time I was able to use the new high-resolution Nikon D800 to photograph a fireworks display. In all I had five cameras set up to record the event. Individual images can be viewed here.

Montgomery Township Fireworks. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/11, 8 sec). (David J Mathre)
Montgomery Township Fireworks. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/11, 8 sec). (David J Mathre)




Two-Years Ago (03-June-2010) — Trinidad

Gone to See the Caribbean Islands. Semester at Sea Spring 2010 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 8: Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Hummingbird in the Rain at the Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 640, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec).

Hummingbird in the Rain, Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 640, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Hummingbird in the Rain, Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 640, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (11-May-2008) — Colorado

Gone to See America. May 2008 Colorado Road Trip. Day 2: Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge.

Black Crowned Night Heron Been Fishing. Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec).

Black Crowned Night Heron Been Fishing, Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec). . (David J Mathre)
Black Crowned Night Heron Been Fishing. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec).  (David J Mathre)

Tuesday (27-March-2012) — New Jersey

Early Spring Night Sky over New Jersey. NASA ATREX Mission. Early Morning Sky Lit Up By Five NASA Sounding Rockets.

Early this morning NASA launched five sounding rockets from Wallops Island, Virginia over a seven minute period to study the jet stream in the upper atmosphere at the edge of space. Once the rockets reached the thermosphere they were set to release trimethyaluminum that would react to create a cloud of aluminum oxide. This mission has been canceled several times waiting for clear skies from New Jersey to South Carolina. I set up a Nikon D3x camera with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 wide angle lens and pointed it south-east to capture an image every minute starting just after midnight to see if I could to catch something from the mission. The rockets were launched starting just before 5 AM (EDT).

The following is a composite of 40 images combined using the startrails program showing the release from all 5 rockets. You see the star trails, a couple of jet trails, all five of the ATREX rocket cloud releases and as a bonus a meteor trail.

NASA ATREX Jet Stream Study Lights up The Night Sky. Composite of 40 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec) processed using DxO Pro, and Startrails. (David J Mathre)
NASA ATREX Jet Stream Study Lights up The Night Sky. Composite of 40 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec) processed using DxO Pro, and Startrails. (David J Mathre)