The main purpose of this web site is to provide all who have an interest in Astronomy/Science/Art, another way to view our beautiful Universe, as recorded by a professional photographer and amateur astronomer using Film, CCD, DSLR, Homemade,& Commercial Equipment. The sale of my photographs provides funding for day to day operations of my observatories as well as continued support of all my current and future imaging projects.
What is Astrophotography?
“ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY”: The art of photographing or imaging objects in deep space. This is a very unique form of photographic art. It requires an extreme amount of patience, time, and lots of practice to master.
What is “Galactic Images”?
An International Astrophotography Fine Art Business. In 1989 I began systematically photographing the night sky. After 2 short years I found my artwork to be in high demand, this prompted the creation of “Galactic Images” in 1992. I travel around the country selling my astrophotographs at High Quality Fine Art Shows and numerous galleries, participating in approximately 20 FineArts shows per year aside from my normal day job. (“The University of Dayton’s Research Institute”) (see my current “Artshow Schedule”)
Note: 90% of my photographs are manually guided using my eyeball. My work is considered a true art form, which allows me to participate in Fine Art shows & display my work at numerous galleries around the country. I have a U.S. Stock Agent (Photo Researchers/Science Source – see “Stock Photo Agent”) and my work is sold in 35 foreign countries around the world.
Over 800 of my images have been published in many science & astronomy books, Software, and major magazines. (National Geographic, Front Cover Of “Time”,Science , Discover, Newsweek, Astronomy, and Sky & Telescope, etc. – see “Publications”)
With what and how are they taken?
With my very large first homemade 16″ diameter F4.5 Newtonian Telescope, as well as many other smaller instruments. (see “Yellow Springs Observatory Construction” and “Backyard Observatory Construction”) All my photographs are time exposures ranging from 10 min. to 17 hours for each image. This type of photography requires me to track on a star at high power during the entire exposure time in order to get pinpoint star images. It is extremely demanding, but well worth the resulting images. With 3,500+ images already recorded on film, and over 35,000 with my CCD/Digital archive, I continue to photograph the endless list of events and objects out there. My formats are 35mm, 6×4.5, 6×6, & 4×5 medium format taken on fine grain 25-400 ISO films and developed and printed up to 20″x 24″ in my own darkroom.
How are they printed?
All are printed directly from the original 35mm, 6cmx4.5cm, 6cmx6cm, or 4×5 negative. Some images are taken with either Astronomical cooled CCD(Charged Coupled Device) or my new high Resolution Digital DSLR cameras and High Dynamic Range Printer.
The Chumack Observatories
MPC Code # 838, Dayton & MPC Code # H66 Yellow Springs Research Stations. (see “Chumack Observatories”) These are official research facilities conducting astronomical research on Minor Planets(Asteroids), Variable Star, Novae, and Supernovae.
The Chumack Observatories are fully automated facilities which take image data every clear night for the Minor Planet Center, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University\’s Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA.
View the Galactic Images Promise.
Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have, Enjoy!!!