The Photographer

Chris Cook is a professional wedding and portrait photographer who has also been photographing the night sky and environs for 27 years. His award winning images have appeared in local, national and international publications, music album covers as well as corporate brochures, calendars and annual reports. Image accolades include having seven NASA Astronomy Picture Of The Day (APOD's) to his credit, the 1995 Texas Star Party "Best Deep Sky Photograph", the 1989 NCRAL astrophotography contest, Astronomy magazine's "Best Astrophoto Award", and a finalist in LIFE magazine's "1999 Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards For Magazine Photography". Chris currently lives on Cape Cod.

Chris' astrophotography images are represented by Science Source stock agency, the world leader in space & scientific photography.

Publications include the following:

Magazines
The New Yorker (US)
Santa Fean Magazine (US)
Cape Cod Magazine (US)
Cape Cod View (US)
Sky & Telescope (US)
Beautiful Universe (US)
Astronomy (US)
Night Sky (US)
Sky & Space (Australia)
Astronomy Now (UK)
Coelum (Italy)
GEO (Germany)
Stars & Universe (South Korea)
Aktuel Astronomi (Denmark)

Newspapers
The Orange County Register. Orange County, California.
The Cape Cod Voice. Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The Cape Cod Times. Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Books
Night Photography - Finding your way in the dark, by Lance Keimig
Explorations, by Thomas T. Arny Ph.D.
Peterson's Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, 4th Edition by Jay M. Pasachoff
Astronomy - A Visual Guide by Mark A. Garlick
Practical Astronomy by Storm Dunlop
Deep Sky Observer's Guide by Neil Bone
Night Wonders by Jane Ann Peddicord
What's Up 2006: 365 Days of Skywatching by Tammy Plotner & Jeff Barbour (front cover photo)
Celestial Sampler by Sue French

Television
FOX25 - Boston, Massachusetts
NECN (New England Cable News) - Boston, Massachusetts
WCVB Channel 5 ABC - Boston, Massachusetts
WBZ Channel 4 CBS - Boston, Massachusetts
WHDH Channel 7 NBC - Boston, Massachusetts
WJAR Channel 10 NBC - Providence, Rhode Island
WIFR Channel 23 CBS - Rockford, Illinois

Educational Exhibits
Griffith Observatory - "Pieces of the Sky - Meteorites" exhibit - Los Angeles, California

Museum Exhibits
Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis - Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Corporate Brochures, Calendars & Annual Reports
NASA - 2008 "Healthier You" NASA employee calendar
PDI, Inc. - 2000 Annual Report - Saddle River, New Jersey
PDI, Inc. - Medical Devices & Diagnostics sales brochure - Saddle River, New Jersey

Online Publications
Seven NASA APOD's "Astronomy Picture Of The Day" - July 2, 2003, August 20, 2003, October 28, 2005, March 10, 2007, January 10, 2012, October 10, 2012 & March 18, 2013
"NBC News Photo Blog" - March 18, 2013
Astronomy Magazine's "Photo of the Day"
"Astronomers Without Borders Blog" - April 14, 2013
"Jesse Greenstein Memorial Film" Palomar Observatory - California Institute of Technology
"StarTales" a publication of Lowell Observatory - Flagstaff, Arizona
NASA's "Spaceweather.com" website cover page for June 27, 2003, April 28 & 30, 2004, January 10 & 12, 2007, March 4, 2007, March 14 & May 20, 2013
NASA's "Lunar Photo of the Day" for October 21, 2004
Image gallery - "SPACE.COM" for June 2004, November 2004, January 2007 and March 2007

Published articles and product reviews
Chris has also authored several product reviews and feature articles on astrophotography for Sky & Telescope magazine. These articles can be found under the Articles section of this site.

Equipment:

Telescopes - Current
Astro-Physics Starfire 130EDF GT - 130mm f/6.3 triplet APO refractor
Hutech Mini-Borg 60mm refractor guidescope

Telescopes - Previously Owned
Takahashi Epsilon E160 - 160mm f/3.3 reflector astrograph
Stellarvue SV80S - 80mm f/6 triplet APO refractor
Celestron C9.25 - 9.25" f/10 Schmidt Cassegrain
Takahashi FS102 - 102mm f/8 fluorite APO refractor
TeleVue NP101 - 101mm f/5.4 APO refractor
TeleVue TV102 - 102mm f/8.6 APO refractor
TeleVue TV85 - 85mm f/7 APO refractor
Meade 127ED - 127mm f/9 ED refractor
Celestron C8 - 8" f/10 Schmidt Cassegrain
Vixen 60mm f/11 refractor
Hutech Mini-Borg 50 refractor guidescope

Cameras & Lenses - Digital
Canon EOS 5D, 40D, 20D & D60-IR
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM, EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye

Cameras & Lenses - Film (no longer used)
Nikon FTn, F2A, F3 and F3HP
Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 Ai-S, 24mm f/2.8 non-Ai, 35mm f/2.8 Ai-S, 50mm f/1.8 Ai-S, 105mm f/2.5 Ai-S and 200mm f/4 Ai-S
Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF
Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 Ai fisheye
Hasselblad 500C medium format camera body
50mm f/4 Zeiss Distagon, 80mm f/2.8 Zeiss Planar and 150mm f/4 Zeiss Sonnar

Astrophotography Mount & Hardware
Losmandy G11 equatorial mount, dovetail plates & mounting hardware
Hutech mounting rings

CCD equipment
SBIG ST-8300M camera

SBIG CFW5-8300 filter wheel

SBIG ST-4 autoguider

Astrodon Tru-Balance Color & Narrowband filters

You can contact Chris here.

© Chris Cook 2012