He has been camping in remote locations around the South for several years now, watching the night sky through his camera lens.
A lonely night at Poolburn proved worth the effort last month, when he was awarded the 2024 Skywatch Australia Astrophotographer of the Year in the Aurora Australis category.
"I do tend to sleep a couple of hours in the back of the car. But I am all packed for camping, with gear, food and coffee," he said.
His wife, Danae, said she liked to do different things in the evenings.
"I’d rather be in my dressing gown with my feet up and a cup of tea and the kids asleep in bed," she said with a laugh.
Last year, McDonald won a different award — the 2023 Landscape Astrophotographer of the Year, an international competition based out of Melbourne — for a photograph of an aurora over Nugget Point in Southland.
"They don’t go out and take the photos. They rely on citizen science, people like me, around the world. That’s a bonus of what I am doing," he said.
The real reason McDonald began taking photos on sleepless nights was that he had been diagnosed with depression and wanted to focus on doing something for his mental health.
He picked up a camera when his first son, Lachie, was born about nine years ago.
He is now a father of two — Lachie, 9, and Finley, 5 — but so far he hasn’t been able to convince them to share his night-time camps.
"I took Lachie out storm chasing once and he wanted to go home after half an hour because it was too dark and scary," he said.
McDonald was born in Scotland and grew up on an army base in England, where his military father was based.
He was a self-taught photographer, "hyper-fixated on learning", and took more than 5000 frames a night, using any of three cameras and an array of power banks.
His most popular aurora photo online so far is one nicknamed "Venus and the Sky Chunder".
The former chef works full time on his creative pursuits, which also include picture framing, wood work and laser engraving, with good friend Luke Jordan.
He has had a stall at the Wanaka Arts Market on Pembroke Park for several years.
More recently, he gave a talk at the Greymouth Camera Club, where he felt completely out of his comfort zone, but talked for two hours and was invited back next year.
He is launching occasional astrophotography workshops in December to show clients around some of his favourite dark sky photography spots.
But for the birth of his children, the quietly spoken man thinks his life-changing photography passion might not have happened.
"That was the pivotal moment. I was coming from a place of despair. But the kids were born and now I have found myself talking in front of maybe a dozen enthusiasts," he said.
