The Gateway Science Museum, Chico

As a nature photographer, I've always been interested in the natural sciences. In fact, I got my bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management. As a result, I've always been a big supporter of the Northern California Natural History Museum, which was recently renamed the Gateway Science Museum.

For many years, the museum has been little more than a few dedicated staff and some architectural drawings, but  they finally received enough funding to actually build the museum. I was honored that the museum approached me to do the first shoots of the nearly completed, but empty future of home of northern California's only science museum.

I was more than happy to donate my time to take these photos for the museum, particularly since non-profit organizations like this struggle in tough economic times.

Given that I had only one evening a one cloudy morning for the shoot, I think I was able to do a decent job capturing the character of the still empty building. I used only natural light for the evening shoot, relying on the darking sky to give some balance to the exterior lighting, and relying on only interior lights for the interior shots.