John Hurlbut

As a kid, I wanted a camera so badly that my grandmother eventually found me a used Kodak Instamatic X-15. I took it everywhere. One of the first photos I remember being proud of was a portrait of my Irish Setter, Shannon, sitting on our front porch in the evening light. There was nothing technically remarkable about it, but it captured a moment I wanted to hold on to, and that feeling stayed with me.

In high school, I got my first 35mm camera and slowly began building my kit, saving for lenses and filters whenever I could. Photography remained part of my life as technology evolved from film to digital and eventually to mirrorless cameras.

My professional background also shaped the way I approach photography today. Working in real estate gave me years of practical shooting experience, while my time at Adobe gave me a strong understanding of creative software and post-processing tools such as Photoshop and Lightroom. Later, I took college photography courses and dedicated myself to learning the technical side of photography more deeply, including different astrophotography workflows.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with a wide range of cameras, lenses, tracking equipment, and processing software. I enjoy taking that knowledge into the field, solving problems, and finding practical ways to create the image I have in mind.

Teaching, however, has always come naturally to me. As I began joining more astrophotography trips, I noticed that I was often more excited about helping someone else nail their focus, settings, tracking, or composition than about taking my own photo. That’s when I realized how much I enjoyed teaching astrophotography in the field.

My goal is to make the technical side of astrophotography feel less intimidating and help photographers become more confident and independent. Whether that means troubleshooting a tracker, refining camera settings, improving a composition, or working through an editing challenge, I enjoy finding clear and practical solutions.

For me, few things are more rewarding than seeing someone realize they just captured an image they didn’t think they could create.