Tony's Takes Photography

Wildlife, landscape and weather photography

Totality! Two years ago today, the Great American Eclipse

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The Great American Eclipse showing the sun's corona. (© Tony’s Takes)
The Great American Eclipse showing the sun’s corona. (© Tony’s Takes)

I figured it would be “pretty cool”. I came away in awe and amazement and was ecstatic I took the time to go see it.

Best of all, for my first time capturing pics of a solar eclipse, I think I did pretty well with my images. It helped that I researched and read dozens and dozens of articles about how to do it so had a pretty good plan in place.

This is one taken at the height of the eclipse with the corona is clearly visible. Probably one of my most popular pics was a collage I put together of all the phases of the eclipse. 

Check out more images of this amazing event here.

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

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The moon on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. (© Tony’s Takes)
The moon on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. (© Tony’s Takes)

My goodness. Those immortal words bring a chill to me every time I hear them but more so today.

It was at the exact moment this photo is being published, 50 years ago, that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon while Michael Collins circled 60 miles above them.

This morning I of course had to take a picture of our only natural satellite and sat and contemplated what an extraordinary feat that was for our nation and mankind. A historic achievement and one that forever changed us.

The Milky Way rises over the forest

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The Milky Way rises above San Isabel National Forest in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
The Milky Way rises above San Isabel National Forest in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Clear skies and getting away from city lights allowed me to get out and shoot the stars this past Monday. It was, as always, amazing to me to see how many points of light are above when conditions are right – it is breathtaking.

Here, thanks to a long exposure, you can see the center of our galaxy. The bright ‘star’ you see is actually Saturn and toward the left edge of the image you can see two, faint meteors streaking side by side

Starry skies over Eleven Mile State Park – and a few too many clouds

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Stars try to shine through the early morning cloud cover at Eleven Mile State Park in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Stars try to shine through the early morning cloud cover at Eleven Mile State Park in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

I visited this awesome Colorado park this past weekend for the first time since I was probably only thigh-high to an adult. It was a great visit getting away from the city and signifies the start of my camping season in earnest.

One of my big goals for the weekend was Milky Way photography. Well, Mother Nature had other plans. I set my alarm, crawled out of the warm comfort of my sleeping bag at 3:00am, emerged to 38 degrees and… Clouds! Being a sailor, you can imagine I used a few “colorful metaphors.” 😀

Nevertheless, I was awake so figured I might as well snap some pics. In between the cirrus clouds you could get a hint of the brilliant display of stars that you can see once you get away from population and lights.

I didn’t get the images I wanted but I did appreciate the quiet and solitude standing on the shoreline of the lake without another person in sight.

Stars try to shine through the early morning cloud cover at Eleven Mile State Park in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Stars try to shine through the early morning cloud cover at Eleven Mile State Park in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Fly me to the moon

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An airplane flies high, passing the moon in the evening sky. (© Tony’s Takes)
An airplane flies high, passing the moon in the evening sky. (© Tony’s Takes)

Fly me to the moon. Or, at least fly by the moon, eh?

Out taking pics last week I look up and see this airplane is going to fly right by the early evening moon. Unfortunately by the time I got my camera dismounted from the tripod and pointed at it, the plane had passed. It still makes for kind of a cool shot I think. Our moon looks absolutely fantastic against that clear, blue, Colorado sky.

As a space geek, I can’t help but look at it and look forward to the day when we can say, “There is a man (or woman!) up there!” It is hard to believe it will soon be 50 years since we first set foot on it. It has been far too long. Let’s go, NASA!

Setting moon between layers of clouds

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The moon sets over the Colorado Front Range foothills with clouds both above and below. (© Tony’s Takes)
The moon sets over the Colorado Front Range foothills with clouds both above and below. (© Tony’s Takes)

A very cool scene that unfolded last weekend. Low clouds were above and threatening to rain. On the horizon, clouds hung low beyond the foothills of the Colorado Front Range. In between, a thin band of blue sky that was punctuated by the setting moon. Even on a cruddy weather day, we get some pretty cool scenes here in Colorado.

Cool blue moon

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A waning gibbous moon floats above Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
A waning gibbous moon floats above Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Just a random picture of the moon I took this past weekend. The sun was up and warming things below following a pretty cool sunrise. Up above, our only natural satellite was ending its day and setting. Our brilliant blue skies provided a backdrop with some thin, cirrus clouds moving about. Kind of a neat scene.

The phases of the lunar eclipse

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Collage of the phases of the total lunar eclipse as seen from the Denver, Colorado area. (© Tony’s Takes)
Collage of the phases of the total lunar eclipse as seen from the Denver, Colorado area. (© Tony’s Takes)

I tried a number of different arrangements stitching together the images I took last night to show the progression of the eclipse. I think this is the one I like the best. It shows it all the way from the full moon before the eclipse started to when there was just a sliver and then to the blood moon.

As always, I find these types of events fun but sometimes frustrating because you only have one chance to get it right. The next lunar eclipse isn’t until 2021 so that is a long wait to try again.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with my results. I do wish I had more time to spend taking pics while it was in totality but I had to get my butt to bed so I could function at work today. 😉

Total lunar eclipse among the stars

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The total lunar eclipse turns the moon red while allowing the stars around it to shine. (© Tony’s Takes)
The total lunar eclipse turns the moon red while allowing the stars around it to shine. (© Tony’s Takes)

Just a quick edit of one of my pics of the big celestial event last night as I had to get to bed and sleep before work today.

We were very lucky here in the Denver area in that while we had clouds much of the day yesterday, it cleared off quite nicely after dark. That gave us prime viewing for the so-called “Super Blood Wolf Moon” (or whatever the hype-masters called it). 😉

One of the things that struck me most about the event was that once totality was reached, the stars really brightened up and became quite visible. Here in the city, we don’t usually see so many except when there is a new moon.

I decided this is probably one of my favorite shots from the night as it offsets the moon and allows you to really see all the stars. 

A quick test shot of the full moon as I gear up for the lunar eclipse

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The rising full wolf moon as seen from the Denver, Colorado area. (© Tony’s Takes)
The rising full wolf moon as seen from the Denver, Colorado area. (© Tony’s Takes)

Skies have thankfully cleared here in the Denver, Colorado area so hoping for a nice show. I will stay up until totality but then will miss the last half as I have to go to work early tomorrow.