With fresh snow covering the plains and mountains a couple of weeks ago and a setting full wolf moon, the scene was a pleasant one. Yeah, it was cold, but so worth it.
Moonset above the snow-covered Rocky Mountains
Bison bull and the setting Wolf Moon
Quite the scene this past Saturday at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. It was a crisp, cold morning with lingering snow on the ground. The critters were quite active and the scenery beautiful. As the full moon set above, a bison bull was on the move right toward me. Behind him, the Front Range and the Rocky Mountains. All-in-all, just about a perfect scene.
The setting full wolf moon
A beautiful morning on the Colorado plains yesterday. Sunrise was stunning as you saw from my pic this AM and turning around and looking west, our only natural satellite was not to be outdone. The silhouetted trees provided a bit more interest.
Moon and balloon
Another capture from my photo session with this cool Colorado-adorned hot air balloon this past weekend. I soooo wanted it to get closer to the waning gibbous moon but it never did quite line up as I had hoped. Nevertheless, it is cool to capture the two objects against that gorgeous blue sky.
Smokestack blood moon
Mother Nature didn’t do me any favors this morning in my attempt to capture the lunar eclipse. I got up earlier than normal and headed out toward work, figuring I would find a spot along the way to get some pics of the celestial event. Unfortunately, every place I tried along the way had clouds.
I arrived at work early, figuring I would just use the time to catch up on some things and as I got out of my truck, there it was! Unfortunately, there was a thin bit of cirrus clouds so I just could not get a fully sharp capture like what I wanted. However, this 1920s smokestack (undergoing renovation as you can tell) provided some additional interest and didn’t require a huge crop.
As the eclipse was already past maximum, I had very little time to play around with compositions, finally realizing that a bit of a move to one side would put the moon right over the smokestack. Not too bad in the end I reckon.
The waning gibbous moon and fall colors
My photo outing yesterday wasn’t as productive as I had hoped so I found myself working pretty hard to get some share-worthy images. Thankfully, our only natural satellite provided a cool subject, particularly when thrown in with some of those gorgeous blue Colorado skies and the changing fall foliage. The details you capture of the moon at this stage is captivating to me and I can just sit there studying all the craters and other features, seeing something different each time.
The full harvest moon sets in Rocky Mountain National Park
Taken last weekend as I was out looking for critters, I was drawn to this view of our only natural satellite as it wrapped up its appearance for the night. Just as the sun was taking over duty for the day and casting a golden light on the mountains, the moon bid farewell, disappearing over the horizon.
The Super Flower Blood Moon of 2022
Lunar eclipses don’t come along too often so I always feel obligated to observe and photograph them, even if it means missing out on much-needed beauty sleep (and I need all the help I can get in that regard!).
I wasn’t too inclined to drive anywhere so I captured the event from my bedroom window last night. That actually turned out to be quite convenient as I only had to walk a few feet to get into bed afterwards. Ha!
For this image, I opted to not crop it too tight and offset the moon to the side. Turning up the ISO (sensitivity) allowed me to capture the gorgeous orange lunar eclipse among some stars.
If you missed the show, there will be another visible in North America on November 7th / 8th.
Wintertime waxing gibbous moon
The other night I heard our neighborhood owls making some noise and while the light was fleeting, I am still desperate to get pics of those buggers. Well, all I came away with were some poor, distant silhouetted shots of them, nothing worth sharing.
I did, however, take a few shots of a beautiful gibbous moon above. I love the less than full moon phases as the angled light really helps give all those craters definition and pop.
Southwest Airlines photobombs my moon shot
So frustrating. I was setting up the perfect shot of the daytime waning gibbous moon as it hung gloriously in the clear blue, Colorado sky. Our only natural satellite looked fantastic up there and then, suddenly a streak of blue, gold and red comes flying through the frame. Dang it! 😀
Okay, in all seriousness, I don’t blame the airline or pilot one bit and was actually kind of happy to have them fly by. I was looking to find a composition that included the moon when I saw the airliner approaching. Quickly I zoomed in and started snapping, capturing a nice sequence of images.
I do have to ask though… Next time Southwest Airlines, could you fly directly in front of the moon? That would make an even better shot. 😉
