First of all, thank you very much for visiting my
online gallery. I
receive a lot of email from visitors, and it always pleases me to hear
from someone enjoying these photographs as much as I do. (To send me a
message, click
here.)
I live in suburban
Austin, Texas with my wife and three daughters. Many of my photographs were taken from my
back yard observatory
here. But light polluted skies such as these present severe limitations
on the quality of images that can be achieved. So I constructed a
new observatory in an
exceptionally dark location in New Mexico to address this. I operate
everything in the observatory remotely from Austin over the internet.
For my "day job," I
am a Vice President of Engineering for a local company,
Silicon Laboratories.
Currently I'm working on radio chips that receive AM/FM broadcasts in devices like cell phones and car radios, high-accuracy timing chips that keep the internet and cellphone networks working properly, and high-voltage isolation products that are used in electric vehicles and industrial equipment. My engineering
background contributes greatly to my work in astrophotography, as this
is a very technical art. There are a million little
details, all of which have to be right for a photography session to really
be productive. Being versed in physics and electronics comes in very
handy when it's time to debug one of those details.
I studied
electrical engineering at Washington State University, eventually earning a Master
of Science degree. While I was there, one of
my non-engineering activities included being a news and sports photographer for the
student newspaper. It was there that I got my feet wet in photography
and gained a sense for composition and the various other elements that
go into making a good photograph. Although almost all of my work at the
newspaper was with traditional film and darkroom techniques, digital
processing of images was just appearing on the scene as well. From my
viewpoint as both a photographer and an engineering student, the
potential that digital imaging offered was incredible, even with the
rudimentary tools we had at the time.
For me, astrophotography is a
perfect blend of the very technical and the very aesthetic, both of
which I love.
No description of my life would be complete without at
least a mention of the real guiding force in it, which is my chosen
faith, Scientology. I have been a Scientologist since 1994, shortly
after I moved to Austin. Through studying and applying the principles of
this philosophy to my life, I have learned what for me has been the most
important
lesson of all: that the real meaning in our lives is the meaning that we
ourselves give it. Scientology provides the means by which anyone can
create that meaning for themselves, and expand their lives to bring real
help and joy to others.
Thank you again for visiting my site. It is
truly a beautiful universe we live in. Enjoy these images, but even
better, get yourself out under the stars and see these things for
yourself. There are astronomy clubs almost everywhere with members happy
to help you see the heavens with your own eyes.
- Russell Croman
Austin, Texas
November 2008 |