shooting the moon

Yesterday TSAnnie threw down the gauntlet "A WOLF MOON! If you have a clear sky and good camera, get outside tonight and capture the Wolf Moon! Photos please!"

I love a challenge.  I said to ToonMan we need to get a photo of the Wolf Moon.  So he goes to Google to see when it is going to happen exactly .. and as if by magic Lee Goldberg the crack meteorologist on WABC here in NYC remarks on the moon, that tonite, right now, its at its brightest.

So we look at one another .. ToonMan says I will go up to the roof and see if we can see it

I reply - but you'll have to come back down to let me know .. maybe take my iPhone and call me?

Then I think by the time I show him how to use it the moon, if visible, will be gone .. but great minds think alike and he says call the landline now.  Brilliant.  I do.  He takes the iPhone and goes to the elevator.

I start to bundle up in case he can see the moon ...

Third Floor .. Donna's bedroom .. Fifth Floor .. Carl's apartment .. ToonMan is giving me alerts as the elevator slowly climbs to the 6th floor.

I am walking up the stairs, he reports, opening the door  .. Oh wow ... get your butt up here NOW!  he says and so I finish dressing, grab the new camera and ring for the elevator.

I get to the roof and he's pointing .. you missed the best shot but if we wait a few minutes those clouds over there will move to the moon and you will have a fabulous shot.

The moon is magnificent, bright and BIG .. I decide while I am waiting on the clouds to fire off a few shots.  But as soon as I focus on the moon I realize my 18-105mm lens ain't gonna cut it .. I am looking at a moon through the viewfinder but the LED screen after I snap shows me a little tiny circle of light in the midst of an inky dark sky.

ToonMan offers suggestions like lean against something to steady yourself  and change the setting ...  except its pitch fucking black out and there are no lights ... wait, the iPhone has a 'flashlight' app .. I turn it on .. I fumble, my fingers are ice cold, I try to figure out what setting to use, I should have brought up the manual!

The clouds move into place, the moon and clouds are exquisite .. I snap a few more and say I am freezing, this lens isn't strong enough, lets go inside.  So we do.

Here are my 3 best shots ...







click on the photos to get the 'full' effect ..