Scattered Thoughts . . .

As I was passing by the living room window heading to the bedroom tonight, I noticed that the sky was clear...  two nights in a row is a shocking surprise...  and the full Snow Moon was again shining brightly so I grabbed my camera and shot a couple of quick photos out the living room window.  This supermoon is still appearing a bit larger than normal even though it was higher in the sky tonight than it was the previous night when I noticed it shining in our living room window.   As much as I'm dying to get out there with a telescope or two, it is still far too frigid out there for me.  I'll wait for the temperatures to get into the 40s!  Right now, we're closer to -40 than we are 40 degrees.  To set up the telescope and mount, I need about 15 minutes.  Then I need another 15 minutes or so to properly level and align the telescope with the celestial north pole.  By the time I'm done doing that, I'd be freezing and dying to get back indoors so it doesn't make a

Tonight... just before dawn on the east coast... 6:22am, to be exact... our moon will be the closest to Earth tonight until we have another "supermoon" in 2034. I had hoped to capture the moon as it rose over the mountains outside our living room. More specifically, I had hoped to capture the moon just as it was cresting over the tree lined mountain ridge, capturing crisp trees with the supermoon behind it.  I peered through the window before coming to my desk but there was no moon in the sky just yet. It wasn't even five minutes later when I heard Sheila ask from the other room, "Is the supermoon tonight?"   I immediately asked, "Is the moon over the mountains already ?" "Yup." "Ugggg."  Then I grabbed my camera, a freshly charged battery, and my newly purchased Canon 400mm f5.6L lens. I have very little experience with this lens but I knew that this particular lens should be, by far, the best super-telephoto lens I'

It required approximately eight hours of work today (not including all the time spent preparing my gear and shooting), but I managed to put together a full composition of last night's supermoon lunar eclipse (photo below). This composition is comprised of twelve images... eleven shots of the moon as it rose into the starry sky (chosen out of approximately 300 images I shot)... and one shot of the starfield which was in the background of this rare show. The final composition is 6000 x 4800 pixels which would make a beautiful high resolution 8"x10" print. If necessary and if I desired, I suppose I could even produce a high resolution 16"x20" print of this composition.  My original plan was to try to capture a few good images of the eclipse. I had never shot an eclipse before so I was prepared for problems and I tried to keep my goal simple. I kept saying to myself,  "I'll be happy with just a few good images of the blood red eclipsed moon."  Ev

For a change, the weather in my neck of the woods cooperated with an astronomical event! That alone is a rarity. Even more surprising is that my health cooperated as well! The chances of all of this coming together were slim. I had set up a couple of my cameras earlier in the day. I charged and tested batteries. I chose two lenses... one for each camera. I chose the appropriate tripod head and mounted it on my tripod. Then, I waited. Sheila's parents stopped by for a few drinks before dinner which was nice and occupied my time as we waited for nightfall. We ate dinner, cleaned up and then I noticed the full moon was brightly lighting up the sky outside our living room window. At this point, I was running low on energy so, rather than hauling all this gear outdoors to a good viewing spot, I just set up the tripod at the living room window and shot out the open window.  The problem with shooting from this particular window is that I knew that the moon would eventually skirt b

I've really had a few weeks of virtual nothingness lately. I've been laid up on the couch trying to recover from some excruciating and debilitating bone and joint pain. At times, I had to deal with the usual Systemic Mastocytosis intermittent anaphylaxis, nausea and gastro-intestinal issues too. Needless to say, it has not been a very productive month as a result. As I lie on our couch, I have a clear view through our living room window of the moon rising from behind the Worcester Range each night. The moon always captures my attention but considering I've been confined to the living room all day, every day, for the past month, the bright moon rising and shining through our living room window is impossible to ignore.  Two things make this full moon worth mentioning. First, the full moon in September is known as the Harvest Moon which oftentimes is spectacular. Second, this particular full moon is also considered a Supermoon because it is so near the Earth at this time

I am still recovering from our outing in Burlington over the weekend for the Vintage Boat Show. At this point I'm not sure which is bothering me more... my usual Systemic Mastocytosis health issues, the overwhelming fatigue from missing a nap while being fairly active or that gash and bruising on my right forearm. I think it is a three-way tie. Although my arm is still throbbing at times (especially since I seem to be knocking it into everything), I am beginning to feel more like myself. There have already been a million supermoon photos posted online but I wanted to add a few more to the mix. Unfortunately, I had a hard time keeping the camera steady because of my health, tremors/twitching in my right hand for days now, and this bruised, throbbing arm.  Compounding these obstacles is the fact that I lost my main workhorse of a computer which I use primarily for art and photography. Until I find the money to buy a new graphics computer, there will be no more digital darkroom no

I went back to the folder which is holding the few images I captured the other night of the "supermoon" to see if there was another image which I might have missed the other night. Sometimes I find it is best to come back to revisit photos a few nights later or weeks later or even months later. These photos get overlooked for various reasons... I'm tired when I first looked at them... the one with the most detail gets lost in a sea of decent photos... and sometimes I just miss the potential of a particular image. In this case, only a few days have passed but I think I did miss a nice image with some impressive detail for a full moon... I was hoping to get outside to shoot some photos tonight but the moonrise is quite late tonight and I am exhausted already. Trying to hold a camera steady while I am exhausted is difficult to do and getting all the camera settings correct at the same time I am exhausted and not thinking clearly is next to impossible.  I still do

Supermoon - 12 July 2014 Last night, our moon was a little closer to our home planet than usual. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as a 'supermoon' because the moon does appear ever so slightly larger in the night sky.  Anyone who has tried to shoot a photo of the full moon realizes that this is a rough task. The moon doesn't really seem all that bright but it really is exceptionally bright especially a full moon. This is why far too many photos of the moon only depict an overexposed, bright white splotch in the sky when they try to capture an image of the moon. You really need to use a camera which allows manual control over your exposure to get this right. Contrary to popular belief, you actually need to set your exposure as though you are shooting on a sunny afternoon... yes... as though you are shooting on a sunny afternoon! Another thing that most people don't understand, or realize, is that the full moon is the worst phase of the moon to try t