Opal Skies over Iceland by Jurgen Lobert

Opal Skies - Aurora borealis over Iceland, mid-March. One of about 400 frames in a time lapse
© Jürgen M. Lobert ~ Nikon D750 • 15mm Sigma Fisheye • f/2.8 • 8 sec • ISO 3200

Jürgen Lobert's passion for night photography began when he took a course at NESOP, taught by Lance Keimig. "[I] always had an interest in low light photography, but never knew how to do it. This course kicked it all lose and got me to invest heavily in photography as my now major hobby," says Jürgen.

Satisfaction and challenges: Jürgen finds profound peace in roaming the nights, and capturing the serenity of strange places. He is also drawn to its challenges. "[Night photography is] unorthodox, hauntingly beautiful, different and not mainstream," says Lobert.

His biggest challenge is time. "I have a daytime job and career, which prevents me from spending as much time as I'd like to spend, particularly travel."

Lighthouse Emissions - Aurora borealis over Iceland, mid-March. Distant lighthouse appears to emit the
aurora colors ~ © Jürgen M. Lobert • Nikon D4 • Nikkor 14-24mm @ 14mm • f/2.8 • 15 sec • ISO 800

Equipment, tools and software: Lobert's most valuable photography equipment for doing his night photography are his Nikon D4 (its illuminated buttons are perhaps his most favorite feature —no flashlights needed). Favorite lenses are his Nikkor 14-24mm and 24-70mm. He uses a Dincum lens shade for urban work. Apps include Sundroid, Tide Prediction and Stellarium.

Jürgen's most-bang-for-the-buck tools: a velcro strip to prevent your intervalometer from dangling, and a reflective strip on the tripod to find it in pitch black darkness. (He once searched for his tripod for half an hour in Death Valley's "Racetrack" area!)

3D Explosion - Aurora borealis over Iceland, mid-March. Clouds in the foreground, aurora in the middle
and stars in the background give this image a very three-dimensional feeling ~ © Jürgen M. Lobert
Nikon D4 • Nikkor 14-24mm @ 14mm • f/4.0 • 6 sec • ISO 2200

Jürgen Lobert, Ph.D. is primarily a scientist who spent 30 years in atmospheric chemistry to hunt down global warming and ozone depleting gases and solve problems in the manufacturing of semiconductors. To balance that nerdy side, he started fine art photography to capture places and moments in time, in unique ways. Jürgen specializes in night and daytime long exposure photography, light painting and astro-landscapes. He lives west of Boston and is an executive member of the Boston Camera Club, and the founder and organizer of the Greater Boston Night Photographers Meetup group. He has organized about 100 photo excursions and he is a lecturer, instructor and judge for regional camera clubs.

Although Jürgen is not making his living from photography, he considers himself a professional photographer, as every aspect of his photography is highly professional: equipment, approach, his teaching, lecturing and competition judging. More of Jürgen photography can be found on his website.

               Royce's 2015 NightScape Workshop Schedule