Sunset Moonrise

Moon photos have been my obsession this summer. When we were in Europe in July we experienced a full moon, and I could not get a clear distinct photo no matter what I tried. It was especially frustrating as I have gotten a few good moon shots in the past, but either they were complete flukes, or I’ve simply forgotten the procedure. In service to that end the local enveloping forest fire smoke has actually been of benefit to me. It spurred me forward to research and practice moon photography.

A couple of nights ago I finally overcame my last technical stumbling block and produced a good clear image that I was satisfied with. Then yesterday I looked up sunset and moonrise times online and realized they were forecast to be literally minutes apart. I figured I could check off multiple boxes at once by going to Spanish Banks near sunset to see how filtered the sun would be as it approached the horizon (because from my deck the trees of QE Park prevent me seeing the sun’s final descent), the smoke blanket hiding the north shore mountains, and the rise of the moon through the smoke layer.

The vanishing setting sun.

It was surprising how high above the horizon the sun faded from view and how high the moon had to climb before it was visible to photograph. The moon wasn’t visible at all as it cleared the trees south of Spanish Banks. The official moonrise time for August 7 was 8:45 pm, but my camera sensor wouldn’t even register the lunar orb for about another 25 minutes. Similarly with the sun, there was virtually nothing for my camera’s sensor to detect as the sun dropped towards the mountains on Vancouver Island. It gave me time to pack up early to hike my gear from the off-leash dog beach to the east beach concession stand area.

Full-moon rise near the east concession stand at Spanish Banks.