13 Moons

Photograph by Danny Canete

In the Fall of 2025, I purchased my first camera (Nikon Z8) after years of wanting to get into photography. I took the camera on my annual overlanding trip through Colorado and Utah. It was there that I discovered the extended shutter speeds and was attempting to capture night skies. I was enthralled with it.

Knowing that there was much more to get out of the camera and the post-processing, I signed up for an astrophotography workshop the Spring of 2026. The workshop took place in Death Valley and in various spots along the Sierra Nevada range.

One evening, the instructor asked if I would like to break away from the group for a more involved hike to find some petroglyphs and shoot the night sky. I didn't even have to think about it for a second.

We found several locations of glyphs, but this one ostensibly known as 13 Moons was fascinating to me. Being new to shooting all of this, I didn't know how to judge by viewing the camera how well the photos would turn out. It was after the workshop ended and I had driven 800 miles back home that I had a chance to load the photos on to the computer and begin editing. What are the chances this was my luck?!

The "13 Moons" photo art is my first astrophotography photo, and is one that I was (and probably still am) ecstatic about. This was captured along the Sierra Nevada range during March of 2026. It was shot on a Nikon Z8 with a Nikkor Z 14-24mm. This is a composite image with a three-shot panel of the milky way, and a single-shot foreground.

I hope people view this photo art and find mystique and wonder in it like I continuously do.

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