Halloween Moonrise

With the almost full moon rising on Halloween night I thought it would make a great photo for the holiday. I've always enjoyed photographing the moonrise (see my previous post about how I got hooked on the moonrise here). Normally, 1-2 days before the actual full moon the light is right so that you can expose both the foreground and the moon with one shot...this can be tricky to do without blowing out (over exposing) the moon unless the light is just right.

On this particular evening I was trying to think of what scene would be interesting to photograph with the moon included. I happened to remember these trees in the water at Stockdale Park on Tuttle Creek Lake. A friend had recently told me about the software program, The Photographers Ephemeris which will tell you the location of sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset, which I used to determine that the moon would rise behind these trees (I recommend checking out this software). It was also a clear evening as well...perfect for getting some good shots of the moon.

The light was fantastic when I first arrived at Stockdale and I was able to shoot the moon and the trees in the foreground still lit by the setting sun. As the sun went down, the sky picked up more color...it was a fantastic show of color. I couldn't have asked for a better Halloween treat!

I was very pleased with the photographs for a number of reasons, but for me, this was one of the first times I was able to "pre-visualize" the scene I wanted to photograph and then go out and make it happen. Sometimes trying to pre-visualize a scene gets in my way of finding a shot, but in this case it worked out well. You can view my photos from the evening by clicking the link below:

Halloween Moonrise, Stockdale Park, Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas

Perigee moon rise

These are some pics of the recent full moon which as a "perigee" moon (more about that here). It was a beautiful evening, but a lot colder than I thought it would be!

I went out to Deep Creek Road and Old K18 for these shots. That is a really beautiful drive to see the Flint Hills. The first few shots are from Old K18, if you want to see some great views of the Flint Hills, take Old K18 to Alma and then drive the Skyline Creek Scenic Drive to Alta Vista and then K177 back into Manhattan. Make sure to go early in the morning or in the evening when the light is just right to catch the shadows falling across the hills.

Doesn't get much better than that!

The scene that created an obsession

When I first started doing nature photography I used to go out on Marlatt Ave looking for photos. It is still one of my favorite places to go out and shoot (although the area is sadly starting to be "developed"). One evening, probably 12 years ago or so, I was just sitting in my vehicle listening to some quail and coyotes after a evening of shooting. I was facing east where an old windmill sat in a pasture along the road. As I was sitting there I noticed a strange glow on the horizon, I had no idea what it could be. Then, right beside the windmill the moon appeared and slowly rose into the sky. It was amazing. I grabbed my camera and started shooting like crazy. Unfortunately I didn't really know what I was doing back then and none of my photos came out (all were over exposed despite bracketing). Seeing the moon rise like that was something I'll never forget. And I was hooked on the idea of photographing the moon rising. Now each month I try to make it a point to go out around the time of the full moon and get some moon shots. Over the years, I went back to that exact spot on Marlatt Ave to try and get the moon rising by that windmill. I even had a friend that did some calculations for me to predict when the moon would rise in that area. I was never able to line the moon up by that windmill again. But on this past April 19th I was driving back into town on Marlatt Ave and finally saw the moon rising beside the windmill, almost in the exact spot I had seen all those years ago. Sadly the top of the windmill was removed a few years ago so the scene wasn't what I was hoping for. But I did get my shot in the end.

You can see more of my moon shots in my galleries here.

Back to Marlatt Park

I was recently at Marlatt Park with one of my photography classes. I really like this small park, it always impresses me. The park had recently been burned and was just starting to green up.

After leaving the park, I drove out of town a bit on Marlatt Park for some sunset shots and some pics of the moon rising. You can view a few of the shots here.

Thanks for looking!