I miss all the great moons here because I can never see the sky through the trees — even in the winter when the leaves are gone. The moon’s passage is across the southern part of our sky, exactly where the tall trees are. It was a real pleasure to be able to take pictures of the eclipsing moon. Just one problem: I really needed a tripod.

I don’t generally like (or much use) tripods, though recently I’ve started using a mini in the house. I also have two full-sized tripods — a heavy one and a light one for travel. These days, though, traveling with a tripod is for the wealthy. Getting your luggage stowed costs money, even for a single bag and the overhead storage area is limited, especially now since to avoid those fees absolutely everyone is carrying everything with them.

So. There I was on the balcony in Northfield, Minnesota. I’d only brought two lenses — my 12-200mm and 25mm Olympus lenses. The 25mm is very fast, but not long enough to get anything substantial. The 12-200mm is a fantastic lens, but it’s not fast. Still, I wasn’t going to miss this rare opportunity to get some pictures of the red moon in eclipse.

The pictures came out very interestingly. I see that other people got the same kind of pictures. I think the long white follow-through is a combination of the motion of the moon and the photographer trying to hold a camera steady enough to get sharp pictures of a moon in transition — at night. You’d need much steadier hands than I’ve got to make that work.

I deleted some of the really weird shots and these are the ones that at least show the moon. Several pictures show the moon more than once.

Categories: #Photography, Anecdote, Cameras, moon, Travel

Tags: #Photography, Eclipse, Marilyn Armstrong, moon, red moon