• Cliff Nieuwenhuis, photo by Kip Nieuwenhuis

  • How it all began

    I've always had an interest in astronomy. Back in 2014, I heard about an opportunity for 4-H leaders to attend a training at Yerkes Observatory to learn how to teach kids about astronomy using robotic telescopes. I jumped at the chance, and soon I became a Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS) leader. After a year or two of running SJS classes for our local 4-H club, I was invited back to a second leader's workshop, and from there I became involved with the development of a 4-H project book for the SJS program. The curriculum included many activities related to astronomy, including astrophotography, where students could learn how to use a digital camera to take pictures of the night sky.

    early attempt at astrophotographyOne of my first attempts at astrophotography

    Was that even possible? Wouldn't the photos come out black? Do you need a special camera? I had more questions than the kids, so I decided to give it a try. Over the next few years I learned more and more about astrophotography, my photos steadily improved, and I kept having fun.

    Fast-forward to 2020. The whole world is in lockdown because of the COVID-19 virus, and many people used the time to work on do-it-yourself home improvement projects. My family was no different. We fixed the barn doors, painted, remodeled a closet, built a wood-fired pizza oven and made a concrete pier that I could mount my camera on for astrophotography.

    Constructing the pier was a fun project. I did a fair amount of research and planned everything out as best I could, and almost on a whim I decided to set up my camera and film the construction from start to finish.

    And that's how I started with the video side of my hobby. There's not much more to say except that my son Kip helped with the videos almost from the start, and it soon became apparent that he has much more talent in videography than me. Kip is behind all the fancy camera work, and I am very proud and appreciative of his contributions. I'm even more thankful for the time we spent working together on these projects. Check out his portfolio at kipnieu.myportfolio.com and his Facebook Page.