In 1976, a blazing visitor lit up the morning sky. Comet West. I was in high school, just getting into photography. That comet? It hooked me.

I grabbed my mom’s Zeiss Ikon Icarex 35S. Loaded it with 400 ASA black-and-white film. Got up before dawn. Set the bulb mode. Used a manual cable release. Exposed each frame for 4 to 8 seconds.

The results? Stunning. That was my first.

I’ve been chasing comets ever since. San Francisco’s light pollution makes it tough. So does the ever-present fog. I know going in: if it’s not bright, at least negative magnitude, I probably won’t catch it.

Comet Hyakutake showed up in 1996. I wasn’t doing darkroom stuff anymore, so I used 400 ASA color print film and caught it over my backyard.

Then came Hale-Bopp in ‘97. Big. Bright. I got clear shots, even with neighborhood lights shining.

By 2015, I was using an iPhone. Tried to get Comet Lovejoy. It was too faint. Just a smudge.

Comet NEOWISE rolled in July 2020. I stuck my iPhone on a tripod across the street. Caught it, just barely, through the tangle of telephone wires.

Comet ZTF appeared in 2023. Same story as Lovejoy. Faint. Fuzzy. But I logged it.

Then came Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS last year, 2024. A beauty. I hiked up to Sunset Reservoir and nailed a shot of it glowing over the Sunset District.

I’m always ready for the next one. Conditions here aren’t great, but if it’s bright, I’ll find a way to get it.

Because comets don’t wait. And neither do I.

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