Biography and Artist’s Statement Taking pictures of the night sky has been an interest of mine for about twenty years.

Way back when, I bought a small department store telescope for looking at the moon and

stars, and then wondered about taking pictures of the objects I saw in the eyepiece. At

first, I just held the camera up to the eyepiece and snapped the shutter. Those were the

days of chemistry based photography with the results not immediately available. There

were no digital cameras back then and the process of trial and error was much longer.

The first pictures were crude, to say the least, but at least recognizable.

While I have no formal training in astronomy, just by the sheer number of hours spent at

this pursuit, I have become an expert at taking pictures of the night sky. The process is

technically demanding and took years to learn and perfect. It involves facility with

telescopes, fancy digital cameras, the night sky (of course), computers and multiple

pieces of sophisticated software. Because of the many moving parts involved, there is a

lot of coordinated activity to make it all work; “many balls up in the air all at the same

time”, as it were. The equipment is in constant need of tweaking to get good results.

With the amount of coordination involved, even minor errors can be catastrophic; one

thing gone wrong, one hiccup, and a whole nights worth of imaging goes to waste. Many

times, I have wanted to give up out of frustration and wasted time. But then…when the

gods smile upon me… and I get a great image, it all becomes worthwhile.

Until a few years ago, the equipment required hands-on monitoring. That is, I was awake

at three o’clock in the morning on the back porch, coaxing the equipment to produce

better results. More recently, I have been fortunate enough to obtain equipment that

makes the process more automated and I can sleep at night. My wife thinks this a major

improvement; not to the images, but to our marriage.

The process is technically oriented, yes, but there is artistry too. The artistry comes from

the mind’s eye projecting itself onto the object, giving it form and appeal as an image.

Since you can’t see the object with the unaided eye, exactly what is it supposed to look

like? There is no single best answer to this question. The artistry comes with making an

aesthetically pleasing composition, while remaining true to the object as a part of nature.

Only in the last couple of years have I progressed to the point where I can honestly

present the work I do as art. There is no training course for this stuff. Expertise comes

from the doing. Because of the amount of labor involved, getting an image to finally

work is actually quite thrilling. At the most fundamental level, what I take pictures of is

what we as human beings came from; and all life on this planet. There is creation in the

universe; and death. Who could not be inspired by such a thing?

When not taking pictures of stars, I practice medicine as a diagnostic radiologist. This,

plus life with my wife and two small boys, occupies my daylight hours. My family and I

live in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado.

Jim Turner

January 31, 2013