3 months ago
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Once In a Blue Moon
On my last night in the Northwest, I made the routine drive back from Portland to the Gorge under the cover of an almost full moon. A 30 mile per hour east wind shook the car from side to side as I listened to Rebellion by the Arcade Fire on my iPhone. Staring out of the window at the scenery illuminated by the vibrant light of the moon, I realized that December was a Blue Moon. I slammed on the brakes, hopped out of the car, opened my trunk, grabbed my tripod and 5d Mark II, and set the shutter for long exposures.
The near full moon's light illuminated the landscape and provided surprising contrasts and colors.
Every few minutes, headlights appeared down the road and I released the shutter to avoid over exposures. Baffled by the by concept of being outside of their heat seats and radios, the drivers sped on.
The harsh wind and cold temperature only increased the solitude of the night. I guess it's my contrarian nature, but the longer I stayed outside numbing my ears and fingertips, the better I felt about standing alone and enjoying the night.
The harsh wind shook the tree's limbs and tall grass, blurring edges in this 30-second exposure.
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13 comments:
Interesting shots - particularly the slightly moving grass/tree. Always good to take advantage of things which only occur once in a blue moon, so to speak.
restless yes, but look where you've been and can go
I really like these photos, as I do most of your other pics from oregon/maine. However I have a question. I am a novice photographer and am trying to figure out shutter speed. Do you know how to achieve the effect of light streaks while adjusting shutter speed. For example what shutter speed would you use to achieve lines of light along a road while cars are passing by for an extended period of time? Just wondering if you knew. Thanks
The shutter speed really has to do with the amount of light. you can control the amount of light with apreture and iso, but at the end of the day it manly has to do with natural conditions out of your control. the best way to figure out what works is trial and error.
Foster
cool, i figured that. thanks. keep the blogging up its awesome.
Love the photos! I was driving up to Fairbanks, AK when the blue moon was out. My dad did the same routine (jumping out of the car with camera and tripod), minus the Arcade Fire
this is all taken at night??
thanks for the kind words ma,
Foster
yup, they were all taken at night.
Foster
Beautiful as usual!
I believe there was a partial eclipse of a blue moon on new years eve. Beautiful pictures, especially the hauntingly blurred tree and grass.
letterpreston,
that was my favorite one too,
Foster
I second whatever Eda said.
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