My name is Cameran - I am in my late 20s and recently completed my Master of Arts degree at Cal State Fullerton studying Geography. My thesis was titled "Light Pollution: The Problem and Its Significance".

I tried to take my first astrophoto (star trails) when I was in 2nd grade. My passion for the sun and deep sky astronomy was rekindled in 2004 when I picked up an issue of Night Sky magazine and tried to find Saturn. I was running around in the middle of my neighborhood at 2 am in the street with the magazine on a clear night sky trying to locate the planet. It was such an amazing feeling when I found it!

Months later I was purchasing my second telescope, a small 90mm maksutov-cassegrain. the person I was buying it from was including a solar filter. I took my first look and was hooked! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I ran inside and asked if there was anything like a sun atlas (thinking in terms of the moon) and was told NO! the sun was active - it was always changing! I was stunned. My love affair with the sun began - I was inspired to try and take some photos. From there I was inspired to photograph the night sky as well using my mother's old Pentax K1000 film camera.

It is stunning to view the sun - it feels like something holy, something sacred.

Many ancient peoples believed the sun was a god. When I am looking at the sun through one of my solar telescopes or taking photographs of it, I often imagine that I am looking at the face of their god and try to capture just some of the majesty they saw in our sacred star. I hope, in some small way, that I have succeeded.