Jim Scotti's Photography page

Astrophotography

I took this image while observing at Saguaro National Monument West shortly after I arrived in Tucson in 1978. This photograph would have been taken in the spring of 1979. I took a sequence of shots starting with heavy twilight, until the twilight was nearly gone. The Pleiades star cluster is visible just above center along with Venus above it. The twilight is nearly gone here, but the Zodiacal light stands out prominently, silouhetting the Saguaro cactus and other plants in the foreground. Photograph taken with a Canon EX-Auto, exposure unrecorded.

This is an image obtained while observing on Kitt Peak. I set up my Yashicamat 124G on a tripod outside the dome at Spacewatch and opened the camera for several hours. The KPNO 4-m telescope is visible at right and the Spacewatch 36 inch telescope dome is visible at left. The exposure is a time exposure of about 2 hours duration showing circumpolar stars. The domes can be seen to blur slightly due to their motion during the exposure. WARNING! - This image is about 62K in size and is 883x899 resultion (I tried a lower resolution, but aliasing made the star trails appear as short dashes!). Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G, Exposure unrecorded (approximately 2 hour).

This image was taken at Saguaro National Monument West, perhaps even the same night as the photograph above. I've always loved putting a giant Saguaro into an Astrophoto! Photograph taken with a Canon EX-Auto, exposure unrecorded.

This is an image of the San Xavier Mission on the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation in Tucson Arizona with comet Hyakutake in the background. Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G.

Landscape photography

Several years ago while hiking Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita mountains south of Tucson near the end of the summer Monsoon season, my friend Mark and I stumbled upon the greenest little corner of southern Arizona that you'll ever find, and it surrounded this waterfall. A couple years later, a couple other friends and I hiked up to it in the chill of January and found it covered with snow. As I often do, I made my friends wait around while I set up my camera and tripod to take this photograph. Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G, exposure unrecorded.

During the "Asteroids, Comets, Meteors" Conference held in Flagstaff at the end of June, 1991, Gene Shoemaker lead the conference participants down into nearby Meteor Crater (see also the images below of Gene Shoemaker). The sight of literally hundreds of people strung out along the crater walls and on the crater floor not only scared the Meteor Crater owners out of their wits, but made for a very interesting day. This image at left is part of a panorama that I took that day from the crater floor. The image at right was taken just below the crater rim during the hike down the "Astronaut's Trail", which got it's name when the route was used in the 1960's to train the astronauts in preparation for lunar exploration. It is very humbling to think that the object that made this kilometer sized hole in the ground was a miniscule little object only about 30 meters across - small by the standards I use to judge most asteroids! Photographs taken with a Pentax K1000, exposures unrecorded.

Can't have too many sunset shots (though after seeing hundreds of mine, my wife usually says otherwise)! Photograph taken with a Pentax K1000, film and exposure unrecorded.

We don't always have clear weather on Kitt Peak while I'm trying to observe up there with the Spacewatch Telescope. I have lots of pictures of telescopes on Kitt Peak, and even though I always take my camera, I don't pull it out anymore unless there is a unique shot, such as during inclement weather like that pictured here. Rising out of the mist like ghosts are the Steward Observatory 90 inch telescope in the foreground and the 4 meter Mayall telescope in the background. Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G.

Years of observing have produced many opportunities for pictures of telescopes on Kitt Peak under less then perfect observing weather. Inclement weather often produces the most spectacular photographic images. This is an image of the Spacewatch Telescope with the Steward Observatory 90 inch and Kitt Peak National Observatories 4-meter Mayall telescopes in the background. Photograph taken with a Pentax 67.

Arizona sunsets can be spectacular and what better place to see a sunset but on Kitt Peak next to a telescope. Here is a view from the same vantage point as the snowcovered one above, but on a night where we were likely to get some observing in. The Spacewatch Telescope dome is in the foreground with the Steward Observatory 90 ich dome and KPNO 4-m telescope domes in the background. Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G.

People

On May 10, 1994, my friend Mark Hamby, my daughter Jennifer, my son Christopher and I had the honor and pleasure to view the Annular Solar Ecplise from Clyde Tombaugh's front yard in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Here is a photo of Clyde watching Mark as he viewed the Sun's partially eclipsed image. Clyde's pun for the day was that we were to be at "Center Ring" for the event. Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto in 1930, passed away on January 17, 1997. Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G.

In June of 1991, the fourth Asteroids Comets and Meteors meeting was held in Flagstaff, Arizona. One of the highlights of the meeting as a field trip down into Meteor crater lead by the late Gene Shoemaker. Photographs taken with a Pentax K1000.

The image at left was taken a few years ago by Lori Stiles who works out of the University of Arizona's News Services office. It shows yours truly alongside the 36 inch telescope. The other 3 images were take during a recent observing run, also by Lori Stiles.

This is a self portrait, taking advantage of the timer function on my Yashicamat 124G. A silhouette shot with a lovely sunset in the background. Of course, as an astronomer, such a photogenic sunset is not a favorite. We'd rather see a crystal clear sky. Photograph taken with a YashicaMat 124G.

Links to other photographic Websites

My photography links page

My panorama photography page

My Infrared photography page

Hamish Reid -- A Home Page Medium Format stuff here too

Bengt's Photo Page

photo.net (by Philip Greenspun)

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PHOTO>Electronic Imaging

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