Supermoon Eclipse - sorta

Red Moon over Santa Monica

Supermoon Eclipse Night turned out to be a little disappointing for local photographers and other lunatics as so much of the southwest experienced overcast skies. This disappointment was tinged with irony, of course, because we were all grateful for a little relief from high temperatures and because the skies were actually quite beautiful.

So many of us were looking forward to a clear view of the big Moon as it rose in penumbra (on the west coast any way). We'd all read Michael Frye, Nikon or other resources on how to capture the perfect time lapse series of the eclipse phases. I even caved in and got an intervalometer for precise timing. The dream shot just didn't "pan" out.

Just a whisper of Moon

I went to the top of Corral Canyon, way above Malibu. It is a great location where I had taken a Camera Committee group a while back. In the twilight, only a tiny edge of the Moon peeked out from behind the veil of clouds (as you can see here if you really look hard).

During the course of the evening, though, some interesting views came along. The shot at the top of this post for instance shows the Red Moon in full eclipse.

In spite of the clouds (and maybe because of them), what I enjoyed was priceless: a lovely couple of hours on a temperate evening on a mountain at the end of a gentle hike, the Moon above, the sea below.

Santa Monica Bay

Then, I had a Moon-lit walk back through dreamland to the trailhead.

You can see additional photos and a couple of animated slideshows in my Supermoon Eclipse album.

The Perigee Moon of 2013

The Perigee Moon from West Adams

Last night was the night to shoot the perigee moon. I was conflicted about how to spend my time, so I combined a visit with my mom with a photo excursion. I was hoping there would be a good view of the moon from the garden at St John of God Retirement Center. 

The view was "meh" at best - actually pretty bad. And I had not done my homework, so I didn't know where to look. And there was plenty of haze. Ultimately I did get a good look at the moon, but only after the light was gone and the moon was above the haze and I adjusted my gaze far enough south.

So I snapped this souvenir and I'll hope do better next time.

Here are three essential elements for successful moon photos. (A very long lens is nice, too.)

• Location scouting
• Moon position research
• Weather-conditions luck 

Weather conditions can be managed if you are free to choose your location, of course.

The next perigee moon occurs in August 2014. That would be a good time to plan an outing. So here is the Los Angeles data for essential #2 from timeanddate.com:

• Date           August 10-11, 2014
• Moonrise   7:40 pm  at 102°
• Moonset     6:07am at 255°

The location is up to you and the weather up to Mother Nature.