Moon shots ellude me.
[Mostly because the event of a great moonrise is rare to begin with, but when you take into account weather and clouds, the opportunity pool shrinks big time.]
Sometimes I obsess over a certain shot and can't get it out of my head. One of my mini ongoing obsessions is to get a compelling shot of the full moon just as it rises above the horizon. Photographers like this moment because of the visual trick it plays in our minds.
You know when the moon comes up over the horizon, it seems huge, doesn't it? It's like it looks much bigger than normal for some reason, right? That optical illusion occurs because our eyes suddenly associate other objects in comparison like buildings, trees, and mountains. We suddenly have uncommon context and the moon can be extra magical. When the moon is way up in the sky, it is surrounded by blank darkness--maybe some clouds. It seems smaller because the space around it is so vast. This also happens with the sun as it sits on the horizon.
After a few failed moonrise attempts, one evening the weather seemed to be holding up nicely and the moon (this time a super moon) was going to peak up off the horizon and I was going to be ready for it. I kept searching time and time again and finally it could play out the way I visualized. There was only one problem. For the life of me, I could not find a good foreground to really help frame the moon.
Suddenly the tiny bright orangy glowy moontop peeked over the horizon.
There's that moment of panic that sets in. This happens when I know I only have a few minutes to get the shot I was looking for. I drive and drive getting different angles, searching and searching, until finally I knew I just had to make do with what I had before the sun got too far off the horizon. So I stopped with a big sigh and started shooting.
Since I did want to include foreground elements, all I could find were buildings and lamp posts.
I wasn't moved by it.
All this effort and I just couldn't get an epic shot. Sigh.
Then I started fiddling with my camera since I've learned the positive things that result from experimenting. I decided to throw it way out of focus, so that only the beads of light would be revealed. So rather than a literal in-focus foreground, I went completely opposite, and created an abstract image. The moon is still close to the horizon, but the size of it and the distance from the horizon, I think, lends itself to being obvious that it is the moon. At least that's what I am counting on.
While this is not even close to the image I thought I'd capture that night, I'm pretty happy with the result of finding the unexpected surprise.
How about some cocktails and cheesecake by the full moon and city lights?
