Tonight's Moon looked enormous rising over the tree tops, though regrettably I didn't bring my camera, while hiking on a very hot summer evening. As a consolation prize, I did capture the Moon nestled in wispy clouds later in the evening, and it looked like this:
My self-imposed open-water season commenced this week—earlier than usual!
I know what you're thinking: "How badass is she?!" ;)
But, in reality, I'm a wimp: whenever I can't see the bottom in a deep, cold glacial lake, I think of prehistoric monsters. (Unintended bonus: these thoughts make you swim faster!) Of course, those monsters should get the paddle-boarders first. After all, they're further out!
Tonight's full Moon is the first time in a long time that I've been able to post my Moon photography, well, on time. Of course, the Moon is always different and always beautiful, which means that it is timeless, making out-of-order images perfectly fine. (I might just be saying that so as to justify all the upcoming photographs from the last few weeks!)
This particular manifestation is the smallest, that is, farthest full Moon of 2015. But that does not make its rise over the Rockies any less fairy tale-like, don't you think?
It's Solstice season in the Rocky Mountains. These shortest days of the year, the sun sets around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and after that...Well, occasionally, you hear the howling of the local wolf packs, which makes that hot chocolate waiting for you at home all the more desirable. But, at the same time, this is that same season when the orange sunsets look all the more unreal against the moody-blue clouds, as you hike down, past the screeching ski lift, until the glistening lake becomes visible.
Some days, I miss my hometown more than others, especially when I don't know exactly when I'd be able to visit next. This bout of nostalgia prompted me to dig up a number of yet-to-be-edited photographs, and here we are. Posting images of the Kremlin might seem a bit contrived, but no less beautiful, at the same time, particularly at night.
Tired of my Moon photographs?
That's unfortunate: I find them calming. Particularly, at a stressful time. And so, I'm going "backward" in time to images I've captured in the mountains at the very beginning of this month.
I photograph the Moon often, and have grown selective in terms of the kind of images I would like to capture. After all, my growing collection should be as multifaceted as possible instead of featuring yet another crisp Luna against the night sky, glorious though it is.
Uncommon—to the average observer—natural phenomena, like eclipses, should theoretically provide such an opportunity. Yet there are so many factors to consider—from being in the wrong time zone to thick cloud cover. Waking up after a brief 'nap' in the middle of the night, I was a bit skeptical about viewing this month's Blood Moon eclipse, a real astrological killer, they say, thanks to the quickly changing weather conditions in the Rocky Mountains.
I was wrong—a welcome surprise—the clouds did not fully obscure this cosmic event and, in fact, enhanced some of my photographs. The only technical downside was that I could not use extended exposure times until the clouds dissipated, so as to avoid a shadowy blur. The reddish-yellow you see in the first image, for instance, was naturally obtained through a 10-second exposure.
The best part? Considering the multi-hour length of this lunar eclipse, I got as much of a chance just to observe it with the naked eye as I did to photograph it.
