Moonrise to Lunar Eclipse Moonset, Colorado San Juans

Moonrise over the San Juan Mountains, Trout Lake, Colorado.

The end of January 2018 was supposed to be not just a Full Moon, but a "blue moon", meaning the second one in the same month. But that's merely the calendar. The Blue Moon occurred on January 31, just one day before February started. Thus robbing February of a Full Moon at all! What should that be called -- the Non Moon?

Whatever. The important thing is that the weather was forecast to be clear, and I live in southwest Colorado. As in: awesome landscapes abound in which to photograph a rising moon above one of them.

So I drove up to Lizard Head Pass (elevation 10, 222 feet or 3,116 meters) the day before the Full Moon as indicated by the calendar. Why? Because depending on when the moon actually reaches "full illumination", you have to be out there the evening before if you want to make landscape photography shots with both the moon rising and the landscape not in darkness.

Trout Lake, just north of Lizard Head Pass. Sun almost down, moon not up yet.

I got to the Pass while the setting sun was still glowing enticingly on the high peaks. I did not stop at the pass but chose to drive down the other side a few miles, to an overlook above Trout Lake. There the warm sunlit peaks, though they were slipping into shadow fast, made for a fantastic accent to the snowy lake in twilight shadow below.

But! Having those peaks so close to me meant that the rising moon would not clear them for quite a while. After dark. Not good.

So I did a U-turn on the highway and headed back up to Lizard Head Pass. The additional 500 feet in elevation would make a critical difference.

And it did. It was a gorgeous January evening. Unseasonably mild, and there was not even a breeze. Still enough to hear a coin drop on the pavement.

The moon was already up over the peaks, of course, and the sun had gone down, too. No time to lose. Shoot the moonrise in the early twilight, before the moon would become a white round disk in a black sky.

So back to work, camera on tripod of course.

Moonrise panorama. Click on image for larger view.

As I was about to finish up a lone cross country skier appeared back up over the opposite road bank, to his car. Taking his skis off, he saw me photographing and said "What a great view to photograph!". Something like that. We each savored the scene for a few more minutes, then wished each other to have a good rest of the evening.

So much for that evening. I would get up early the next morning for the second half of the show: a full Lunar Eclipse as the moon was getting ready to set before sunrise.

See more of my photography, and order prints at my website: www.NaturalMoment.com.

© Copyright Stephen J. Krieg

Starry, Really Starry Night at 10,000 Feet

Milky Way and infinite friends, from Lizard Head Pass.

Summertime, and the living's easy. Right? Especially up in the Rocky Mountains of southwest Colorado.

I was back up at Lizard Head Pass, and had found an excellent campsite on the National Forest to settle into. A day off, plenty of provisions, nowhere else to be but to be relaxed and savoring the experience.

Sunset turned to dusk, and to sleep. Good night. But something was bugging me: being back underneath a clear dark sky view of the Milky Way again.

I'm no night owl. I like going to bed early and getting up early. But I wanted to once again try my hand at some night sky photography.

So at one point I peered out the window and upward just to confirm that the Milky Way was still up there. Got that done. Then I dozed off. And woke up dreaming that I was photographing it! Oh, I thought, I'd better just get up and actually do it. Otherwise it will be fits and starts of dreams all night.

So I sleepily set up the tripod and camera and had what could best be described as a good effort. Which, in post production back at home (fully awake) turned out to be not bad. Progress from my earlier attempts.

To the north, I framed the spruce and fir trees in silhouette against the sky. After all, who needs another great shot of the night sky without an Earthly reference?

Southern sky, the Galactic Center.

Then, to the south. The Galactic Center was in view. Such shots are often called fake, because they look like star clouds.

The reality is that the camera sensor records more than our eyes can see at the time. Also, city people have no night vision because of all the light pollution. Come up here to 10,000 feet and look up at the night sky. Without turning on any white lights. You could see so much more than you imagined.

At any rate, these are my best depictions of what I experienced that starry, starry night.

Photo location: Lizard Head Pass, San Juan National Forest, Colorado.

See more of my photography at www.NaturalMoment.com.

© Copyright 2017 Stephen J. Krieg