Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Big Moon

All the photographers were busy last weekend trying to capture the "super-moon". I think it's supposed to be over a year from now before the moon is as big and bright. I got a few decent shots on Saturday night, but I knew I could do better. Sunday AM at around 4:30 the moon was supposed to be at it's biggest and brightest. I set the alarm, drove around the neighborhood, and it quickly became obvious there were way too many low clouds to get any glimpse of the moon. So I went home and went back to bed. Not to be discouraged, we decided to drive out to the desert Sunday night to catch the "moon-rise" which was scheduled to happen at 8:30PM.

We drove into the high desert shortly after sunset and stopped for gas at the Morongo Valley Chevron.
The clouds were pretty, but looking east towards 29 Palms (which is where we were going, and where the moon was supposed to be rising) I noticed a lot of haze and cloud cover. At 8:30 PM, there was no moon in sight.  Ditto about 9 PM, but then the clouds started to clear. I didn't get the classic moon-rising-over-the-mountain or Joshua tree silhouette shot, but some very nice cloud + moon shots, so overall pretty happy.


"Cloudy Hand"

"Moon Sandwich" - the clouds were picking up some interesting colors.

Textured moon
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29 comments:

  1. Wow - your shots are spectacular! Love the rainbow colours in the moon sandwich...

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  2. Wow, these are amazing! Being winter here I've not been out looking for the moon lately. Such great clarity in these shots.

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  4. Awesome shots - very spectacular !!! nice conceptions too.

    xo, veredit

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  5. Your serie on the moon is really great, But I remain very fond of the first pic : the clouds are so impressive...

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  6. After a great wide angle shot amazing tele's. I like them a lot. Keep clicking.

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  7. Gorgeous images, and wow, you really worked for them. No clouds in our summer sky so it was a boring black, but I took mine right off the porch.

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  8. I really like the look of #2 Cloudy Hand. I took a few quick shots of the moon as it rose over Lake Elsinore but the abandoned school was more interesting by today!

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  9. Awesome moon captures. I really love the sandwich shot! Have a happy weekend!

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  10. I do so like your moon sandwich! Just great.

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  11. As usual, you have some beautiful shots! I never really did get a photo of the moon, although I got a couple of fairly nice ones driving up by Pinyon last Tuesday as it was setting behind the San Jacinto mountains.
    Cheers~
    Cheryl Ann

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  12. You are so dedicated and tenacious and man, did those qualities ever pay off! "Spectacular" doesn't even adequately cover it. Bravo!!!!! (The third one is my favorite, in case anyone's keeping score). ;-)

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  13. Moon Sandwich, ha I love that! I was cloudy here so I wasn't able to grab any good shots. Thankfully I can enjoy yours :) have a great weekend!

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  14. Beautiful shots! Brought on a flash back though. Several years ago we waited in the parking lot at o'dark thirty at the Arco across the hwy from the Chevron for our son to return from Iraq. We were watching for the buses heading towards 29 Palms. Damn, I actually miss traveling to that area.

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  15. Some beautiful shots you got there. Admiration to you for getting up that earlier in the morning. You have some excellent Photoshop (i assume thats what your using) skills. Very nice set

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  16. I salute you! Wonderful photographs, all of them.

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  17. It was certainly worth the drive. You got spectacular pictures. I think that your partner -or whoever the other half of the "we" you refer to -should get extra credit for going with you to take pictures of the moon. Us crazy photographers...

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  18. Beautiful shots! Love the last one with the birds...

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  19. Creative moon and cloud images, I especially love the moon sandwich and textured moon. :)

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  20. You got some great, clear Moon shots here.

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  21. great post of the seasonal moon

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  22. Incredible!!! I can't choose a favourite!!! And it was my third pass before I noticed the birds in the textured image!!! Cool!!!

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  23. Gee. That shot you called Moon Sandwhich is a beauty. Bravo.

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