Exploring the World At Night: An Introduction to Photography in the Dark
By: Robert Arn

The Estes Valley Astronomical Society (EVAS) in conjunction with The Estes Park Memorial Observatory is offering a free public open house/star night on Saturday, May 27, 7 PM.  The goal of EVAS is to promote amateur astronomy and education in the Estes valley.

Devil’s Tower Night Sky Photography by Robert Arn

Explore the world at night through your DSLR camera. Juxtapose wide open meadow, towering mountains, and vast deserts under the Milky Way. In recent years, consumer-level sensor technology has opened the possibility of capturing images in very low-light conditions. We will combine common landscape photograph techniques with those used in more traditional forms of astrophotography to tackle the challenges of imaging the world in conjunction with the night sky. For more on his talk visit the website at: AngelsAbove.org.

Robert Arn has spent more than 10 years in the field of astrophotography. He synthesizes his love for astronomy and photography into the beautiful world of nightscape astrophotography, the art of juxtaposing the Earth with the night sky. Never was a person happier spending long nights on a secluded mountainside beneath a blanket of stars in subfreezing temperatures with a camera in hand.

Robert shares his love of this unique form of photography by his involvement in public outreach. He has hosted astrophotography workshops through AstroArn Photograph and the Loveland Photographic Society and has taught astronomy courses through Colorado State University as well as at a number of outreach events and star parties. He has given numerous astrophotography talks along the Colorado Front Range and central Illinois. Robert’s work has been showcased and published in a number of settings, including NASA’s APOD, URSA’s EPOD, Les Cowley’s OPOD. He has also given talks about the mathematics of image and video processing. Robert enjoys the challenge of constantly learning new and more advanced photo processing techniques to add to his growing toolbox for astrophotography, drawing from both the skills he has developed in astronomy and those in photography.

In addition to astrophotography, Robert received his PhD in Mathematics at Colorado State University in 2016. He currently works as a Systems Engineer at Northrop Grumman in Denver/Aurora, CO. His research is in deep learning, artificial intelligence, image processing, optimization, large data analysis, and geometric data analysis. When he is not working, he can be found on the side of a mountain or underneath the stars, trying to capture part of this majestic universe.

To see a sample of Robert’s photograph work, please check out his website: AstroArn.com

The observatory is just north of the high school at 1600 Manford Ave. Park in the teacher’s parking lot between the high school and the observatory. The doors will open at 7:00 pm and the presentation will start at 7:30 pm. Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

The lecture is free to the public and no reservations necessary. Just come and join the party and be ready to ask questions!  For more information, please call the observatory at 970-586-5668

Doors Open: 7:00 | Guest Speaker: 7:30-8:30 | Observing: 8:30-10:00