Dan Holtmeyer Photography

Goodbye, 2024. I’m not holding my breath for a better 2025. But I wish you all a year full of joy, love, community and wonder, like all of my favorite photos were this past year. Don’t stay up too late.

#2024

Thanks for still following along even as I've been neglecting this page and my photography a bit this year. But I've still got some 2024 highlights and favorites to share, if you'd like to take a look: https://www.danholtmeyerphoto.com/blog/catching-up-starting-fresh

Bring on 2025!

Taking pictures of lightning, at least the way I know how to do it, is basically luck and hope and brute force, literally pushing the button over and over and hoping that something happens in the right spot and the right time and that the settings are right for it. Last night I got lucky. This first pic isn’t even cropped — I just happened to aim exactly where I needed to aim and to push the button exactly when I needed to push. The photo itself is overexposed, of course, but the overload of power seems appropriate for the billions of volts that danced across miles of sky to make it happen. Thanks, lightning. I’ve loved your shows since I was a little kid.

Part 2, more of the words and truths I’m honoring and celebrating today. Feel free to share other quotations about what it means to be American and free — maybe I’ll keep the series going. More than ever I’m clinging to these truths for clarity and focus.

I’m going to skip the fireworks this year — it might rain, anyway, but that’s not why. Instead I’m going to celebrate and remember the words of great Americans, living and dead, who help me understand what being American means, and what freedom and patriotism mean. Many powerful people are trying to undo or ignore these truths. And I’m tired of it. But I’m not giving up on those words.

Our second spectacular, collective celestial event in as many months, only this time we had hours and days of advance notice rather than years. Another reminder of the cosmic forces around us, in case we didn’t get the picture in April.

In this case, a storm of energy and ionized atoms has arrived from our sun. Usually they’re steered by Earth’s magnetic field into relatively narrow funnels around the poles. But a major solar blast like this one overflows and stretches that funnel across more of the planet. I never imagined I’d see the aurora for the first time in Arkansas of all places.

We joined dozens of other people last night at the perfect vantage point by a Civil War battleground. I couldn’t see or capture from here many of the beautiful striations and currents that you’ll see in a lot of other photographers’ shots. But my favorite part was simply the colors against a backdrop of stars. Even looking straight up, a long exposure captured a beautiful red glow. The whole sky was filled with color, if you had the electronic eyes to see it.

If you missed it, that's a giant bummer.

I'll copy and paste my other thoughts about yesterday from my Instagram post: This was my second total eclipse after the one seven years ago, and it was still absolutely worth it. There is nothing like seeing the sunlight fade and become strange and faded, then seeing a circular void wreathed in light in the sky, as if our star has been swallowed by a cosmic hole-puncher. Seeing with my own eyes two celestial spheres of rock and plasma, each incomprehensibly huge and far away, dance through space together. Solar prominences bigger than our planet shining like pink dewdrops on the edge of darkness. And of course taking all of this in alongside millions of people who are like me and unlike me. An experience of awe and amazement that binds us to humanity throughout the millennia. Plus the good luck of the damn clouds mostly staying out of the way. It was a special day.

I've been quiet this year, but some good news to share: 2024 calendars are now on sale! $20 each at this link:
https://square.link/u/jRHKtVM5

This year's theme is "Up Close," featuring some of the beautiful and often-missed details of nature through the seasons. I took these images around the Ozarks during the month that features them. Let me know if you want some.

2024 Calendar - Daniel Holtmeyer description

Whether it's for Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday, you'll find high-quality prints, cards and other items available right now in my shop, and they make great gifts.

You can also still order calendars here: https://www.danholtmeyerphoto.com/blog/2023-calendars-ready-for-pre-order

Art prints - Dan Holtmeyer Photography I photograph the places and moments that go unnoticed. I want to convey the wonder of a mushroom, the worth of quiet places, the value of feeling small.

The nights grow long, life slumbers, and we dance with the light and the dark.

Día de los Mu***os - Blog - Dan Holtmeyer Photography - Día de los Mu***os Portraits, events and art photography in northwest Arkansas.

2023 calendars are now ready for pre-order! This year's theme: "Dream," highlighting surreal scenes from natural and human-built settings around the U.S. Please consider buying one as a great holiday gift that supports a small-time artist.

2023 calendar: Dream - Blog - Dan Holtmeyer Photography - 2023 calendar: Dream Portraits, events and art photography in northwest Arkansas.

A ton of summer traveling for work and otherwise has finally wrapped up, and I've got photos from the ground and the sky to share.

Summer catch-up - Blog - Dan Holtmeyer Photography - Summer catch-up Portraits, events and art photography in northwest Arkansas.