Dark Skies, Bright Ideas, and a Passion for the Outdoors
Outdoorsman, Jim Baugh gives us an incredible, new perspective on our Eastern Shore home.
When you think about our amazing Eastern Shore, ‘one-ofa-kind’ comes to mind. With its unique barrier islands, bountiful waters, and delicate natural habitats, it’s an area like nowhere else in the world. It’s also the home of another one-of-a-kind: veteran television producer, photographer, musician, and award-winning filmmaker, Jim Baugh. With his show, Jim Baugh Outdoors, spanning three decades, exploring the wild and wonderful outdoor adventures in Maryland, the Outer Banks, Virginia, West Virginia, Colorado, Miami and down to the Florida Keys, he’s a master of telling a great story and captivating imaginations.
His award-winning short film, “The Milky Way Galaxy, Our Home” is one such incredible story. Highlighting four never before published dark sky sites right here on the Eastern Shore, the four-minute film utilizes Jim’s photography taken over four months and his time-lapse video spanning four years. Weaving four years of footage and thousands of photos together to share the wonder of the Eastern Shore night sky with the world sounds like an enormous endeavor. But for Jim, it’s a way of life. Jim has seen a lot in his decades advocating for getting outdoors. So when he says the Eastern Shore area is unique, that’s certainly saying something. His work in astrophotography—photography of celestial events and the night sky—shows just how right he is.
“The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the place for nightscapes and stargazing,” says Jim. When he began the detailed process of looking for dark sky sites on the Eastern Shore, he was excited by what he found. Before he moved to Cape Charles with his wife, Donna, in 2013, the only time Jim was able to really see the night sky was when he was out on a boat. His dark-skyfriendly location of Cape Charles has changed that. He suspected the Cape Charles area might have potential for ideal dark sky sites— so he set out to find them. He began by using satellite imagery to find what looked, to his trained eye, like possible spots. “At night, I’d take our dog, Jazz, out to the darkest locations to check them out,” he remembers. He found several of these in the Cape Charles area.