Foto Friday 18 – Supermoon
A Supermoon Fever
I was late. Or rather, the clouds were in the way when I arrived at the lake, listening to Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever. And I’m free, free fallin’… Yep, I’m listening to it again while typing this up. I’ve got to get back into the groove. No, no Madonna right now, sorry.
I should have switched to CCR with this Bad Moon Rising behind the clouds, but what can I say? I was in a Petty mood, blue hour and all. Coincidentally, The Marcels have a tune for a Blue Moon, which brings us straight to American Werewolf (undoubtedly the best werewolf movie ever made), albeit it was Bobby Vinton’s slow, soothing version then, and from there, the leap to a local myth, a vengeful lake demon that pulls girls into the water on a solstice full moon isn’t that far away. Still waters run deep. But more on that later.
Here’s my setup ten minutes before the above shot. Enlarge to see the position of the moon. I wanted a large body of water in the foreground to get some nice reflections. Let’s see if it worked.
Luckily the clouds buggered off, and I was able to get a few good shots in, reflection and all. I was the only one taking pictures there. No one came, no one looked, no one turned into a werewolf…
The moon kept rising incredulously fast, and as you can see, 105mm focal length doesn’t cut it when you want “moony” shots with lots of “moony” details. Still, it makes for a moody landscape shot, I’d say. I have it (the above) hanging in our living room, a little piece of where I grew up. Never forget your roots.
At 50mm focal length, the moon becomes a small yellow disc in the sky. No less ominous, partly covered by clouds. The moon was so bright, it was the brightest, ‘superest’ Supermoon of 2014. National Geographic called it an “extra-supermoon” with extra werewolf appeal. OK, I made that last part up.
Full Moon folklore has fuelled and will continue to fuel countless stories for young and old.
I liked “Where the Mountain Meets The Moon” by Grace Lin, a fantasy story inspired by Chinese folklore with gorgeous illustrations, which I read out loud to my son when he was younger. He’s grown out of that phase since. And, of course, there’s always Wallace & Gromit’s “Grand Day Out” with its many quotable one-liners, which one never gets tired of.
What are your favourite moon stories? Let me know in the comments below.
Everybody knows the moon’s made of cheese.
— Wallace & Gromit, A Grand Day Out
About the photos
Taking good pictures of the moon is never easy, especially at 105mm. For more details, to bring the moon closer in, you’d need at least 250mm or better, 500-600mm, which I didn’t have.
In terms of location, the moon will have more impact if tied to e. g. a landmark or building to give it a sense of place. I hoped I could get some images of the moon creeping over the horizon, but with the clouds in the way, that didn’t happen.
The lake is within walking distance from my home, which would be gone a year from when I took these images and is called “Drachensee” (Dragonlake). The short way around, crossing the lake via the floating bridge you can see in the middle, is 4,7 km, and the long way around is around 10 km. It got its name from the town’s festival, “Drachenstich,” the oldest medieval festival in Germany, which I mentioned in my FotoFriday 07 post.
Outtakes
I used the above outtake for my flash fiction story “Still Water,” a spooky tale in 1000 words about a local myth and the carefree years of youth.
What futile endeavour to try and shoot moon photos with a phone, but while waiting, one might as well. Besides, it didn’t turn out that bad. Did it? This image is SOOC, a photog1 term for “straight out of camera,” implying zero manipulation and filters (except for the added watermark).
These days, phone cameras are much better, and if you do take a picture of the moon with your phone, do not zoom in before taking the photo. Tap the moon on your screen to have the camera focus there, and only use your optical zoom (no digital zoom), and crop the image afterwards to your liking.
I hope you enjoyed these “moony” images, and tune in next time for FotoFriday19 in July.
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Previously on FotoFriday…
: one who takes photographs : PHOTOGRAPHER
I know it's just a phone, but the purple is very nice. Once had a tie which showed the moon, and its reflection in water - thrift store find, Japanese perhaps? Favorite of all time. Nice work, A!
I can never capture the moon in a photograph. Thanks for these beautiful images!