Welcome to our page! We're a couple living in Colorado, and our site showcases some of our hobbies and interests. Joel is into astronomy, photography, and library science; and Rebekah enjoys art, writing, and crafts. We hope you enjoy our site!

Joel & Rebekah      
 

Rushing Waters

2016, Acrylic on Canvas, 12″x12″

Another early attempt at the "pour painting" technique. Though I understand the "cracking" effect is not typically desired with this medium, I really liked the depth and emotion I feel it lends this piece.

Nebulae

2017, Watercolor on Paper, 4″x8″

A reflection on astronomy and the beauty of the night sky. By restricting my canvas size to much smaller than I typically do, it forced me to portray my subject simply and effectively. I love the colors in this.

My Best Ever Image of Jupiter from February 2014

This is my best ever image of Jupiter, taken in February 2014 in Fayetteville, Arkansas on a night of incredible seeing. If you look closely, you can see Jupiter's volcanic moon Io to the right of the planet. 

Taken with a Celestron C6 SCT, Celestron AVX mount, a 2x Barlow, and a ASI120MC planetary/lunar imaging camera. I recorded several minutes of video using the ASI120MC and then stacked the sharpest of the resulting still frames to produce this composite image. 

The Pleiades, a Beautiful Star Cluster and Nebula in the Constellation of Taurus

I took this photo of the Pleiades in January, 2014, from the moderately light polluted skies of Fayetteville, Arkansas, using a TMB92L refractor telescope, a Canon T3i DSLR, an Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, on a  Celestron AVX mount.

The Pleiades are one of my favorite objects in the night sky. They look best through binoculars, which frame the cluster nicely and show off its cool blue stars. The nebula surrounding the Pleiades star cluster is only visible through long-exposure photography. The cluster is also known as M45, the Seven Sisters, and Subaru.

The Milky Way and the Paint Mines

The Milky Way rising above the Paint Mines Open Space in Calhan, Colorado. 

This is a composite image made from two exposures, one for the Milky Way and a second for the foreground. Rebekah light painted the rocks with a flashlight to illuminate them and add interest to the image while I took a long exposure photo. I then combined the two exposures in Photoshop. 

This was taken with a Canon 70D DSLR camera and a Tokina 11=16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX lens.

Colorful Colorado Sunset

A photo of a colorful Colorado sunset I took some years ago from the bluffs behind my old townhouse. 

The townhouse complex was built around a series of bluffs in the neighborhood. I use to do some imaging from the bluffs at night, including of star trails and a lunar eclipse. It was also a great spot to get sunset shots like this because it provided such good views of the sky. 

This was taken with a Canon 70D and a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX lens.

The Total Lunar Eclipse on April 15, 2014

The peak of the total lunar eclipse that occurred on April 15, 2014.

I stayed up the entire night to photograph the eclipse from beginning to end. This was the second lunar eclipse I ever photographed, the first being back in 2010. 

This photograph is from the height of the eclipse, around 3:00 a.m. This is a long exposure photo, 3 seconds long, taken to bring out the reds caused by some sunlight leaking through around the edges of the Earth and reflected on the otherwise eclipsed moon. 

The Scotsman Trail in Garden of the Gods Park

I took this photo a few years ago during a hike with Rebekah on the Scotsman Trail in the iconic Garden of the Gods Park located on the western edge of Colorado Springs. 

This was taken with a Canon 70D DSLR camera and a Canon EF-S 17-55mm lens. This is looking northeast, towards the park's main rock formations. The park is jam packed with tourists on the weekends and it can be difficult to get good photos free of people like this one. However, we went hiking on a weekend and managed the have the park mostly to ourselves. 

Pikes Peak from Palmer Park

Pikes Peak as seen from Palmer Park, a series of bluffs at the heart of Colorado Springs that are great for hiking and mountain biking. 

I took this photo this morning while hiking Templeton Trail, a 4-mile loop that takes you around much of the park and offers wonderful views of Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and downtown Colorado Springs. 

This was taken with a Canon 6D DSLR camera and a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens.

The Triangulum Galaxy (M33)

The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) in the constellation of Triangulum, one of the galaxies that comprises the Local Group, a galactic cluster that includes the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. 

I took this with a TMB92L refractor telescope, a Hutech-modified a Canon T3i DSLR, an Orion SSAG autoguider and 50mm guidescope, all riding on a Celestron AVX mount.