Kevin Palmer Photography

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Kevin Palmer Photography

I take pictures and time lapse videos of landscapes, the night sky, and storms. Based in Sheridan, WY

Check out my website above for prints ranging in size from 6x9 to 24x36, plus panoramas. Images in the prints section are also available for licensing.

10/06/2026

Every June without fail I seem to end up in this remote corner of South Dakota. It’s an area that few people visit, but it’s one of my favorites. It had been a frustrating day of storm chasing. Either the predicted storms failed to materialize or when they did they would immediately die out. This thunderstorm was dying as well and by the time I reached it there wasn’t even any lightning left. But with clear skies to the west I knew that an amazing light show was coming. Though I couldn’t have predicted that the rainbow would form directly over Battleship Rock. This was the same landmark where I captured rare red sprites last year. The right side of the vivid rainbow faded quickly but the left side stuck around for quite awhile. Though the prairie wasn’t as green as past years, the wet grass and golden sunlight made it hard to tell.

01/06/2026

It’s a time of abundant life in the mountains. Pregnant elk and moose have either already given birth or are about to. Elk are a little harder to find because they tend to be up on ridges or in the forest instead of by the road. But with enough wandering around you are sure to stumble upon a calf. This was my third time meeting one. She was just days old with long wobbly legs and no fear of me. But the mother elk just down the hill was not too happy so I didn’t stay long.

In and around Burgess Junction I counted a total of 82 moose visible from the highway. I always see more in late May and June than at any other time of year. They are best seen in mornings and evenings, retreating to shaded areas during the heat of the day. There were no babies yet but that will soon change. Moose are not herd animals yet sometimes more than a dozen were feeding in one spot. Even compared to national parks or Alaska, I don’t know of any better place to see so many moose in such a concentrated area.

28/05/2026

Hidden away in a secret location in the Bighorn Mountains is a very unusual and intriguing rock. The trees are just tall enough that it can’t be seen from below. No trails exist here, aside from those made by the many elk and moose in the area. A near perfect cube 60 feet high sits at the bottom of a rockpile. Each side is a different color. Made of dolomite limestone, the edges are almost impossibly straight, like it was sculpted by a giant. Whoever said there are no right angles in nature got it wrong. Evidently the massive block broke off from the cliff face hundreds of feet above. Deep cracks and crevices are common up top. I had to step carefully to avoid falling into them. It would have been an awesome sight to see this fall and roll down the slope. But exactly how the geometry formed and why the block didn’t break apart remains a mystery.

18/05/2026

A new moon weekend with clear weather is something I try not to miss. Especially in May. The nights have gotten shorter but there is much to see. Aurora was a possibility on Thursday night, Friday night, both, or neither. Camping out two nights ensured I wouldn’t miss it. Gusty winds that blew during the day gave way to a perfect calm after dark. At 11PM blue and purple pillars shot up in the northern sky. By 2AM Saturday morning the colors had faded somewhat.

But this is the time I was waiting for, when the Milky Way had risen high enough. It formed a huge arch, stretching across the sky from southeast to northeast. 6 deer bounded away as I walked up to this unnamed rock formation below my campsite. It made the perfect foreground for a panorama. The surprisingly chilly air and frost underfoot was a reminder that winter is not over at these elevations. In fact today 10 inches of snow is falling here in the southern Bighorn Mountains.

13/05/2026

In all the world there exists only one alpine parrot. They live exclusively in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. No other parrots are so well-suited for a harsh mountain environment. The Māori people named them kea, after the sound they make. These birds are endangered with a population of less than 5,000. Kea are known for being highly intelligent and social, but also very mischievous. If you leave your bag unattended for even a few seconds, they will steal and damage whatever they can get their beaks on. They have even been known to tear into cars. But despite the trouble they cause, it’s hard not to love them.

I was sitting alone on a mountaintop watching a rainbow fade in and out, when a call rang out across the valley. A kea flew out of the fog and joined me on the summit. Seeming to pose for my camera, sunlight glinted off olive-green feathers. The rainbow transformed into a double and even a triple fog bow. This is one of the rarest atmospheric phenomena, since the clouds have to be just the right thickness and water droplets just the right size.

04/05/2026

On the arid, sunset side of the Bighorn Mountains stands a towering rock. Made of red sandstone of the Chugwater Formation, it rises 300 feet above its surroundings. Chimney Rock is a very common name with dozens in the United States, 10 in Wyoming, and another only 2 miles away. But this one is special. Many times I’ve driven past this landmark, but the best views are not found from the highway. Setting out to get closer, I followed a rough off-camber road around the back and then walked the rest of the way on foot. At the base I could see birds roosting up top and white streaks down the sides. On the adjacent hillside bloomed Indian Paintbrush, which is Wyoming’s state flower. Higher up was a birds eye view of the rugged canyons and cliffs beyond. By the time I got back my shoes were stained red.

27/04/2026

It’s a place of many superlatives. Mountains rise steeply 5000+ feet out of the water to form some of the highest sea cliffs on Earth. It’s been called the 8th wonder of the world. Rain falls 185 days a year, making it one of the wettest inhabited places. Waterfalls are so numerous that most of them lack names. Winds are so strong that water often flows uphill. A layer of freshwater up to 10 meters thick lies on top of the sea, appearing black at times from all the tannins. These waters are teeming with whales, penguins, seals, and dolphins. No visit to New Zealand is complete without stopping here. Just getting to Milford Sound is an adventure with the steep windy mountain road often seeing floods and avalanches. Many tour boats await to take passengers up the fjord. When I went, sunbeams danced through the falling rain while moody clouds shrouded the highest peaks.

17/04/2026

After the warmest and driest winter on record in Wyoming, I had all but given up on capturing any snowy scenes this year. Grass was growing, flowers were blooming, and trees were leafing out earlier than I’ve ever seen them before. But finally the weather pattern changed and brought several snowstorms this month. Most recently was yesterday. April snow usually melts very quickly because of the higher sun angle. So I got up early to catch it before it’s gone. I followed the tracks of mountain lion, deer, bobcats, and other wildlife into Little Goose Canyon. The road was frozen but no jacket was necessary. Snow was about 6 inches deep at the end. Then on the way back I remembered why I don’t come here more often. A couple hours is all it took for deep, slick mud to take over. It was nice while it lasted.

09/04/2026

After 6 nights in New Zealand, the sky was finally clear and the moon absent. On the shores of Lake Wakatipu I eagerly awaited nightfall. As someone who has spent hundreds of nights out under the stars, it was a strange feeling to look up and recognize nothing. The constellations I did know to the north were upside down. And the southern half of the sky is completely unique to the Southern Hemisphere. This includes objects like the Southern Cross, Carina Nebula, Large and Small Magellenic Clouds. The latter are satellite galaxies that orbit the Milky Way at a distance of 160,000 light years. As dwarf galaxies having 10% the mass of our own galaxy, they contain "only" 20 billion stars. But the Large Magellenic Cloud is huge in Earth's sky, at 20X the apparent size of the moon. At this latitude they are circumpolar, which means they stay up all night long, slowly rotating around the south celestial pole. For a few minutes the horizon also glowed red, from a weak southern lights display.

30/03/2026

Between the worst flooding in decades, washed out roads and park closures, last week was not the best time to be in Maui. But even on the rainiest, cloudiest days, the sunsets here are not to be missed. As I quickly learned, weather forecasts in Hawaii are not the most trustworthy. They can tell you a storm is coming, but when the rain starts, when it ends, or how severe it will be is anybody’s guess. Even during a normal year, the peak Puʻu Kukui is one of the wettest places on Earth. This evening was the only time I saw the West Maui Mountains fully appear out of the clouds. After walking to the far end of the beach, I met this sea turtle. They often bask on the sand at sunset, sleeping up to 11 hours a day. Green sea turtles can weigh upwards of 300 lbs and live to be 70 years old.

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