Imaging Under City Skies

Bright city skies. One hour. Just beyond the doorstep. Where a little sky is enough.

I photograph the night sky from a Bortle 9 urban environment near O'Hare airport—the brightest classification on the scale—where light pollution limits how much faint detail the night sky can reveal. Because of these conditions—and the realities of weather and time—I work with up to one hour of total integration per target each night.

Rather than seeing these constraints as obstacles, I treat them as part of the challenge. My goal is to learn how to produce the best possible images within real‑world limits, refining technique, equipment choices, and processing methods to show what can be achieved even under bright city skies.

Every image on this site reflects that philosophy: practical, disciplined, and rooted in the joy of capturing God’s wonders in the night sky from where I live.