Moon Photos
Images of the omen of my environment.
One photo per month,
when the Moon is in Capricorn.
Moon Photos is currently on pause.
Thank you for viewing.
Moon Photo 22
A funny signature of this time of year.
I was out with my family, and I saw this crescent on the first night of the Capricorn Moon, and knowing it was supposed to rain the next day, I had to take the shot. So I used what the cliché calls “the best camera” — the one I had with me. Then it occurred to me to check, and last year’s November Moon Photo was also taken with my phone. It’s a funny signature of this time of year that the Moon is up at times when I’m too busy and in transition to take a proper photo.
Moon Photo 21
It looks like she’s melting.
This is my favorite time of year to shoot Capricorn Moons. They’re up in the late afternoon, and the weather here is clear enough that you can get them dozing in the clouds like this. I like how it looks like she’s melting.
Moon Photo 20
We were in the same position.
The clouds hid the Moon from us these last couple days. On the second day of the Capricorn Moon, I went for a walk by the observatory and saw it standing there, dome closed, looking up into the gray sky anyway, looking like the Moon. I found it relatable. We were in the same position.
Moon Photo 19
That’s not where I’m at right now.
Someday, I’m going to put the work in to learn how to take a photo like this that still has the color of the sky in it. That’s probably something I’d have to do with two photos and some computer time. But that’s not where I’m at right now. Where I’m at is, this Moon is void of course, and I need to go sit with that, so let me take a picture first.
Moon Photo 18
She is a survivor.
This is Levanah. She is a survivor. Over this Full Moon, a hawk removed a metal grate that was covering the fire pit where our new batch of chicks were growing up. The hawk picked the rest of them off. Only Levanah survived. We brought her habitat inside, and she seems to be doing okay. A neighbor took five of our chicks just a couple days ago, and she’s going to bring them back to us, so Levanah won’t grow up alone.
Moon Photo 17
Side by side.
I had to set an alarm for 12:30 a.m. to get this one. It was kind of a weird amount of devotion to this shot, honestly. I needed the sleep, and we were leaving for a grueling two-toddler beach drive in the morning (and hadn’t packed yet). And there are two Capricorn Full Moons this year. So I guess that’s why. I needed to leave myself the option of shooting them both and looking at them side by side.
Moon Photo 16
As though through a telescope.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to wake up for this shot, but then I remembered how far south the Moon was, and I figured the vantage point would be interesting and the color might be pretty. Both were true. I shoot as naturalistically as possible; I don’t like the blown-out fake sci-fi style of most astro photos I see. I want mine to look like what I saw, as though through a telescope. I didn’t adjust the color of this at all; she really looked like that.
Moon Photo 15
I went out in the front yard.
I went out to take this picture as a form of procrastination. It was time to get the day started in my house, which is a chaotic and unpleasant process for me that takes about two hours, and I was finding everything I could do to avoid starting it. I went out in the front yard, and this Moon reflected a lot to me about where I was at.
Moon Photo 14
I held out for an entire day.
I held out for an entire day to see if I could see more of the Moon than this, but this is as close as I could get. The image is quite noisy; the original capture was very flat and gray, and I did what I could to recover some of the complexity of the light I saw. But digital noise actually feels like a pretty appropriate symbol of my condition heading into next week’s eclipse.
Moon Photo 13
I was chasing the Moon through the clouds.
I went out on the front steps straight from bed to see if it was too cloudy and saw a glorious Moon hanging instead. I had to run back inside and grab the gear. I was chasing the Moon through the clouds, so I just kept shooting until I needed coffee too badly to keep going.
Moon Photo 12
The battery was dead.
This photo is a good illustration of my capacity this morning. The best time to catch the Moon in this phase is right in the heat of kid breakfast/getting-ready-for-school time, and I have been worrying about getting it for days. After a typically agonizing getting-dressed period, I ran outside to get the shot and, lo and behold, I had not charged my camera in weeks, and the battery was dead. So I left the tripod in place in the front yard, ran inside, and grabbed the charger and my portable camping battery. I prayed the camera would operate while plugged in, and thank God it did. The charging cable is too short to reach to the ground; I was holding the battery in my left hand when I got the shot.
Moon Photo 11
I’ve missed the sky.
It’s the night of the New Moon, and it’s the first clear night in a while. Wild weather moved through the whole country over the weekend, and it’s cold now. I’ve missed the sky. And tonight, here it is.
Moon Photo 10
We shared in each other’s light in the darkness.
It’s the New Moon at the end of Chanukah, and I had two nights to line up the achingly poignant menorah pic that would be able to tell the story of what Chanukah was like this year, but it didn’t come together. None of the menorah pics could hold a candle — if you will — to the little backyard fire that kept us warm at my men’s council on the seventh night. We got very real at that fire. Shared some deep and longstanding childhood stuff with one another. We shared in each other’s light in the darkness.
Moon Photo 9
It wasn’t the most prudent decision.
I took this with my phone out the open window of my car while stopped at a light. It wasn’t the most prudent decision, but I had to do it. The wires criss-crossing the sky felt so apt.
Moon Photo 8
I was granted a reprieve.
I was having the kind of Friday afternoon that you never want to have in my kind of householder work, and then — suddenly — I was granted a reprieve. Just 20 minutes. But that was exactly what I needed to go out the front door and see this sky from the street.
Moon Photo 7
The decision of the Holy One of Blessing is nearly made.
This is a month in the Jewish calendar when the Moon keeps painstaking time. Nowhere else in the year but Tishrei — the first month of the religious year — does the Torah specify observances on the 1st, 10th, and 15th day. Tonight is the 9th; Yom Kippur begins tomorrow night. The decision of the Holy One of Blessing is nearly made.
Moon Photo 6
I suddenly felt like I had all the time in the world.
I’ve had an incredibly long day. It was hot and humid, and we were out in it all day long. I had to leave my camera out on the porch for it to acclimate while I ate dinner before I got outside to get this shot. Once I did, I suddenly felt like I had all the time in the world.
Moon Photo 5
Thinking a lot about being enough.
I just got home from the Barbie movie. Thinking a lot about being enough. Then I saw this messed up Moon in the clouds and found it quite relatable. It’s so humid out that the lens fogged up. She’s still in there somewhere.
Moon Photo 4
I pulled out what detail I could.
This photo was taken in the last 20 minutes of the Capricorn Moon, and the clouds only gave me one chance. I was on manual focus when I shot it, and, well, I didn’t manually focus it. I pulled out what detail I could. This is the Poás volcano in Costa Rica, by the way.
Moon Photo 3
Effort is not really my style.
I had trouble producing this image. It took a bunch of angles and settings and trying. Effort is not really my style, but that’s how the learning happens.
