Monhegan: Painting with Light

Twelve miles off the Maine coast is Monhegan Island, a small island about the size of New York’s Central Park. As a photographer, I have been drawn for almost two decades to the natural beauty of the island, with its thirteen miles of walking trails and historic fishing village. However, a hidden wonder of Monhegan lies in its night skies. Dark skies are a rarity on the populous East Coast, but on the island the sky comes alive on clear nights, with brilliant stars and the breathtaking wash of the Milky Way. My goal in this series was to see if I could capture both the astonishing skies of Monhegan and also the charm of the village itself.

By painting the Monhegan buildings with handheld light sources, I found that it was possible to give them life while shooting them at night. No Photoshopping is performed to mix the skies into these images, as each image was created in only twenty to thirty seconds to avoid the earth's movement turning the stars into long "light trails." A single small flashlight was moved in darkness to illuminate the buildings from specific angles to capture the unique quality of each structure. During the summer of 2020 I was lucky enough to be on the island during the passing visit of Comet NEOWISE, so images of that event are also included in this collection.

With this book I wanted the reader to reflect on the island's fishing history and its legacy of respecting nature. I hope the images will remind people of the way sailors relied on starlight for navigation, and will inspire a deeper appreciation of the rarity of these dark skies, below are some selected images from it.