Steve Scholle Photography

03/11/2025

I always wanted to camp on a frozen lake...got a chance to do that in Wyoming! AND, bizarrely enough, I captured a rocket blasting off in Florida during my night time-lapse!

Join me on an epic winter adventure as I take my clear bubble tent and all my gear, hauled by my DIY pulk sled, out onto a frozen lake for an unforgettable n...

01/29/2025

I was able to get a super sweet image of the Milky Way at this unique geological site in Central Wyoming!



I explore Hell's Half Acre in Wyoming, a large geological canyon that encompasses hundreds of acres. At this geologic oddity, I car camp and discover deep ra...

09/17/2024

AMAZED...yet again. Never would I have imagined chasing the aurora borealis more often in southern Wyoming than I ever did in 20 years living in the Pacific Northwest. Yet here I am, grabbing cameras and batteries, running out the door into the dark of night... only tonight, it’s really not that dark.

With a nearly full moon rising in the east, I figured it wasn’t likely I could capture this solar storm. But a wise word of wisdom in landscape photography is "you don’t know unless you go" so I made the 40-minute drive to the Pole Mountain area, where I had pinned this tree on my map, noting it would be a great shot facing north if there were ever a solar storm to grace the skies behind it like a watercolor background.

As I arrived on the scene, I couldn’t believe that, even with unadjusted eyes, I was seeing color in the sky out of the car window. I bailed as fast as I could, ran to the tree, and grabbed half a dozen shots with my iPhone. I know from experience: if it’s there, you better shoot quickly because 10 seconds later, it might be gone. The wispy clouds added nicely to the drama, and my heart was racing as I quickly set up my other camera.

And sure enough, by the time I set up my tripod, the aurora had faded. But I saw it, I caught it, and I’m thrilled. However, I’m not done yet. As I post this, I currently have two cameras set up running time-lapse in hopes that the aurora will rise again. All of the data points to that being a real possibility. So I’m hunkered down for the long haul, and we will see what happens.

08/25/2024

Went for a dirt road drive at sunset. Only made it a mile but found plenty to point the camera at.

05/11/2024

There was some confusion. Never in my wildest dreams (Guess I need to have wilder dreams) did I ever imagine I would get the chance to see and shoot overhead Aurora in southern Wyoming! I started the evening at North Crow Creek Reservoir where the pillars appeared before the sunset had even fully faded! I ended my copious capturing and glorious gawking at 2AM in a pasture near home. The confusion came when the skies above me and the prairie around were so brightly lit that the meadowlarks began their morning song, no doubt thinking that it was time to rise. At least they didn't sleep through the spectacular display!

10/14/2023

Star of the Show
The highly anticipated annular solar eclipse has come and gone. I photographed the sun at intervals during the three hour duration of the show. Because of the intensity of the sun, it is impossible to see the moon other than it's outline as it passes between the the earth and our star. But what would the eclipse look like if we could adjust all of the exposures so that our eye could clearly see the sun, moon, sky, and landscape all together in one scene? That's what I decided to create here. I took the images of the eclipsed sun, as well as the the full moon I shot a couple weeks ago, and I combined them at proper scale, exposure, and position, so as to "reveal" the moon as the sun blazed across the sky and overtook the lumbering lunar lobe. I placed them all in the autumn morning sky over Twin Mountain that I captured recently on the same day as the full moon. Here in Wyoming, the maximum coverage of the sun was 80% at 10:35, and that is the exact time of the center eclipse shot in this image. I'm happy with the result, and for me it really helps to bring clarity to what happened as the sun overtook the moon in the sky. Feel free to share the image!

An "annular" solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth while it is at its furthest point from Earth. Because the Moon is farther away from Earth, it appears smaller than the Sun and does not completely cover the star. Because the Sun is never completely covered, observers must wear proper eye protection at all times while watching an annular eclipse. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over United States, from the South in Texas, streaking to the Northeast through Maine. So hang on to your viewing glasses if you have them!

10/13/2023

We spent a few days in Colorado and struck GOLD. I squeezed the trigger over 600 times. It was like shooting at the broad side of a barn...not hard to hit this beauty. This shot is a non-traditional angle on "The Castles" in south central Colorado.

10/05/2023

Jack has every reason to be happy.
This is Happy Jack Rd. as it winds its way into the Rocky Mountains of Medicine Bow National Forest, WY. As I drove off into the sunset tonight, I stopped to photograph Twin Mountain in the glow of last light. There, I thought to myself, "Yeah, just like Jack, I'm pretty happy on this road." 🙂

09/17/2023

I had a "BLAST" making this video! 💥😬😁

Join me exploring a former WWII military targeting and maneuvering training area that is now Pole Mountain / Medicine Bow National Forest. I discover remnant...

04/01/2023

Peter Iredale 2.0

In 2017 I took a photo of the remains of the Peter Iredale shipwreck on the Oregon coast. I was then able to find a photo of the ship that was taken shortly after it ran aground in 1906, so I combined the photos into one image that spans 111 years.
I first posted this piece of art 6 years ago, and it has become my most widely circulated and purchased piece of art. Recently I reworked the image to include more of the original ship at greater detail and clarity. The seas and salts will eventually claim the rest of the Iredale, leaving the many photos and memories she made to be all that's left of her former glory.

Copies of this timeless piece of art are available at the link in the first comment.

Sailing from Salina Cruz, Mexico, on or about September 26, 1906, the Peter Iredale was bound for Portland, Oregon with 1,000 tons of ballast and a crew of 27, including two stowaways. On the night of October 25, Captain H. Lawrence sighted the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse at 3:20 a.m.. The crew altered course first east-northeast and then northeast to enter the mouth of the Columbia River in thick mist and a rising tide. Under strong winds out of the west, an attempt was made to wear the ship away from shore, but a heavy northwest squall grounded Peter Iredale on Clatsop Sands (now called Clatsop Spit). The ship was built in Maryport in June 1890, by R. Ritson & Co Ltd for Peter Iredale & Porter. She displaced 2,075 tons and measured 87 meters (285 ft) in length and was fashioned from steel plates on an iron frame. She had royal sails above double top and topgallant sails. Hopes to tow her back out to sea were never realized and some of the iron ribs remain on the beach to this day and are pictured here with the "ghost ship of long past.