Author: David Wilson

Night Light of the North Coast: Milky Way Over the Benbow Inn

Sunday, 17 August 2025, 12:02 am David Wilson 19 comments

Looking across the East Branch of the South Fork Eel River, the Historic Benow Inn's lighting illuminates its yard, the river and the Benbow Bridge. Humboldt County, California. August 13, 2025.

A historic Humboldt landmark glows beneath the stars

Night Light of the North Coast: How I Became the Architect of My Own Educational AI

Monday, 2 June 2025, 12:01 am David Wilson Leave a comment

“This is the story of how I went from casual conversations with ChatGPT to designing a purpose-built educational assistant for my photography students — one that follows its own version of Asimov’s Zeroth Law.”

Handfuls of Home

Night Light of the North Coast: Redwood Skywalk

Wednesday, 18 December 2024, 1:27 am David Wilson 8 comments

First it was Ferndale, then it was the Sequoia Park Zoo, but now, a team in Mendocino County has lit an even taller Christmas tree. But even so…the Sequoia Park’s Zoo’s Tree is a marvel of sparkle.

Handfuls of Home

Night Light of the North Coast: Of Comet Trails and Luminous Waves

Monday, 28 October 2024, 7:32 am David Wilson 14 comments

Bioluminescence glows in the surf as Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, Venus and the Milky Way set over the Pacific Ocean. Though the comet was brighter and the sky clearer a few nights before, this night I was rewarded with my first photograph of bioluminescence in the waves. Thank goodness for Mother Nature’s unexpected gifts! Humboldt County, California. October 26, 2025.

Did you see the comet this month? It now seems to be on a course that will take it out of the solar system entirely by early November. We are never going to see it again.

Handfuls of Home

Night Light of the North Coast: Vista Point Convergence

Monday, 8 July 2024, 12:49 pm David Wilson 14 comments

Beneath the majestic Milky Way, along southbound US 101, the Vista Point scenic overlook lies among the Redwoods of Humboldt County south of Stafford, California. June 30, 2024. Photo by David Wilson. Over the course of three hours, I stood there and photographed cars and semis going by, waiting for the Milky Way to creep across the horizon from left to right until it reached this point where all these lines would converge (I'm calling this one "Convergences" at the moment in my head). That was my plan; and I’d missed going out for it the last two seasons. This photographic image was illuminated in three parts: The landscape light and the streaks on the left are from one extremely well lit semi going south on US 101, and the lights on the right are from another semi that towered over me as it drove down the on-ramp to 101. The two semis provided the light streaks and the light for the landscape in two separate photos. I waited until the Milky Way reached that spot to line up with the two roads, then took a photograph for the sky without cars in the frame. I never moved the camera all night, with the results that each photograph applied the light it captured to a different part of the image. The sky was 25 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400.

Beneath the majestic Milky Way, Vista Point scenic overlook along southbound US 101 lies among the Redwoods of Humboldt County, just south of Stafford, California.