Things They Are a Changing

Aug 15

My main focus in photography since 2022 has been travel photography. I chose to focus on this after a few years long hiatus following my decision to no longer pursue for-hire professional photography due to health reasons. I’d travel to a place and spend a few, or even several, days just wandering around, exploring, and taking photos of whatever interested me. Some days I’d walk 10 miles or more, with my trip record being 63 miles walked during a week in New Orleans in 2023. I absolutely fell in love with doing photography in this way. The images below highlight some of the destinations I visited. Click any of the photos to explore galleries of my photos from these trips, and then come back and continue reading below.

I have a long history of orthopedic issues related to my prior military service in the US Army that led to me deciding to no longer doing photography professionally, including issues that led to a knee surgery and two lower back surgeries. You can read more about all that here.

After my New Orleans trip in 2023, I was diagnosed with mild degenerative arthritis in my right hip. Just prior to my NYC trip in fall of that year, I began receiving injections for the arthritis in my knee, neck, and lower back. After my Nashville and Hawaii trip, the arthritis in my hip has worsened and is now moderate. The injections in my neck and lower back are becoming significantly less effective. And just this week I learned that I will be having a 3rd surgery to fuse two of the vertebrae in my lower back due to the bulging disk compressing my spinal cord. This surgery will be done after I lose a little weight.

All this is leading me to once again to step back and reconsider the path forward for me and my photography.

Last month, for my 47th birthday, I ran a fundraiser on PayPal to help me with purchasing some astrophotography equipment. I raised $530 and was able to purchase a computerized equatorial mount that tracks the apparent movement of the stars, moon, and sun, and it can also automatically aim the camera at a large database of night sky objects! I also purchased a noise pollution filter, two lenses, and some other various needed accessories. If you missed the fundraiser but would still like to make a donation, you can do that here.

Astrophotography is a very specialized field of photography, but fortunately for me I live in an area that is dark enough to be able to do it without leaving my yard out in the country in northern Alabama. Because of this, it’s something I’ll be able to do regardless of what state of falling apart my musculoskeletal system decides it wants to be in at any given point in time. It’s also fascinating to me to be able to literally catch photons that have been travelling for possibly millions or billions of year with the sensor of my camera. I’ve dabbled in the past with some of this, but there are serious limitations as to what could be done without the equatorial mount. Some examples of my previous astrophotography attempts are below.

Comet Pons/Brooks (bottom left) juxtaposed with Andromeda Galaxy (upper right), Lincoln, AL - Mar. 2024

Perseid Meteors, Andromeda Galaxy, Milky Way, and Aurora Borealis, Lincoln, AL - Aug.2024

Perseid Meteor and Milky Way, Nevada - Aug. 2022

Andromeda Galaxy, Lincoln, AL - Oct. 2023

Another type of photography I’ll be focusing on in the future that I can easily do within my physical limitations, and one that I can focus on without a big investment in new gear, is photographing nature in and around where I live. Birds, flowers, and macro photography of smaller things. I currently have multiple lenses that I can do this with, and there is always something that can be photographed no matter the time of year. I think it makes a great choice of daytime subject to complement the nighttime focus of the astrophotography.

Hopefully one day after the back surgery and maybe some weight loss I’ll be able to get back to doing travel photography, even if it’s at a smaller scale than what I’ve been doing recently. I’ll continue to keep you updated. I appreciate everyone’s support as always!

Brian Parton

Things They Are a Changing

Introducing My First Astrophotography Rig!

Astrophotography Fundraiser Results!