Ladee's Travels

I have been waiting for months for the full moon to align with the Tovrea Castle so that I could have this type of photograph.  I was astonished as the dark night sky started to brighten and then I saw the edge of the moon shining through the windows on the top level.  It was an astounding sight. You can see a prior post of the Tovrea Castle, the inside and outside in daylight, click here .

I am always excited when there is a full moon.  I drove to several places this afternoon to scout out my "ideal spot" for tonight's event.  I have found a new favorite. Pending thunderstorms threatened to block the full moon, but I was happy to be out shooting.  Keeping a positive attitude (not always easy when it is 108 in the desert), I set up the tripod and tested the settings. I was disappointed by the cloud cover in the direction of the moon, but was able to get a few photographs before it was hidden.  The sunset, however, did not disappoint. Here are the photos, in the order that I took them.  Running back and forth from sunset to moonrise!! Thunderstorms on the way in and I was able to catch a lightning strike in the east. Facing the northwest.  The tower is at the Phoenix airport. North east, big zoom, playing with the zoom lens to see what I could get. The virga (the dark thin lines coming down from the cloud...rain!) near down...

The plan was to photography the Super Full Moon as it set over Phoenix.  This meant that I was out of the house by 4AM.   I wanted it from the point where McDowell Road raises and goes through the Papago Mountains.  It was a pretty view, but the real thrill was capturing the sun rising behind Four Peaks. I played with the settings until I could get a decent compromise with the moon's brightness and the darkness of the city. Happy with my photos, I turned to return to the car and what a sight with the morning sunrise.  I ran back to the car to change lens and set up to watch all the colors unfold.

This is the start of my work on the photos that I took of the moon eclipse.  I want to either put them in a straight line across the page or curved following the natural arch in the sky.

We met at the Denny's in Surprise, and then the group of 16 headed north for a dark spot in the desert on a night when the full moon was shining bright. There was cloud cover so we had some time to play before we attached the cameras to the telescope. So play we did, with light. The top photo are two light paintings that K made and I merged them together.  The second one is my fancy "L". We took photos as the moon rose, often obscured by cloud cover.  Then the moon smiled upon us and we were able to take turns connecting to the telescope to take photos. I am thrilled!  This is out for print and I will get it tomorrow.