Over the Moon

— Right at the start I have to say that night and astrophotography are not areas that I devote much time to in my photography. Nevertheless, whenever there is a new full moon, I am often intrigued by it. So, I am over the moon that among hundreds of photos I have attempted through the years, I have a few that I really like.

The first photo here was made at Big Bend NP (Texas) in December 2021. There was a rare alignment occurrence of the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus. As we were driving to dinner, we stopped to capture some sunset photos near the Castolon area. It was a sight to behold.

Sometimes I find that a partially full moon is more captivating to my eyes. They tend to show more mystery in the areas that we do not see clearly. I find that an appealing quality in a photograph. These two next photos were of the May 2022 Super Flower Blood Moon. You can clearly see why it had that name. The second photo on this pair was captured an hour later than the first photo. It was magical to see the transformation.

Here are other photos I have captured of a full moon in various locations. I especially like the last one from my own backyard. The tree shadows cast a nice change of the full moon appearance. Also, the middle moon was a nice appearance in the sky in the late morning hours.

The last images I selected to feature here were made at the Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas). Besides being a Formula 1 race track, COTA also does weekly bike nights several weeks during the year. They are large events drawing sometimes over a thousand bike riders. Of course, I always bring my camera to capture some memorable scenes at sunset.

If you want to browse through more Moon photos, simply check out Denzil Nature and his Nature Photo Challenge #30: Moon.