Last Sunday I
travelled to the Maine Coast to photograph our latest Super Moon. Things
didn’t come out as I had hoped, but nature photography is all about getting the
most from what nature offers.
Super Moons
Simply speaking, a
Super Moon is defined as a full moon that occurs at its closest approach in its
elliptical orbit around the earth,
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| Mount Monadnock Super Moon, November 2016 |
at “perigee”. In that position the
moon is about 12-14% larger in the sky and about 30% brighter than it appears
when farthest away, at “apogee”. When magnified through our
photographic lenses, Super Moons are not dramatically more visually exciting
than any other “ordinary” full moon. Every time they occur, however, they draw
attention to the beauty of our fully illuminated partner, and I usually get
caught up in all the hysteria. This last weekend the Super Moon struck
once again.
Super Moons Past
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| Old Saybrook Breakwater Light |
I have been lucky
in my previous attempts to capture the full moon at perigee. In March of 2011 and November of 2016, I was blessed with clear skies to catch the moon
rising above Mount Monadnock. In September 2015 the moon rose into the
clouds over the Old Saybrook Lighthouse, but before it faded, I was able to
grab one of my favorite moonrise shots. Each time, these images required
travel and careful planning to be in the right place at the right time, but I
was always rewarded with amazing shots. That was not the case this
weekend.
The Thrill of the
Chase
I must remind
myself that the excitement of discovering a spectacular image comes, in part,
from the fact that often these explorations fail. Without the
disappointments, the successes would be less triumphant. We study and
plan, but in the end, being a landscape photographer means we often succeed or
fail on the whim of nature.
Super Moon over
Nubble Lighthouse
Last week I gave a
talk to the
South Shore Camera Club in Quincy Massachusetts. I discussed
various evening photography
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| Nubble Light Sunset |
topics including Holiday Lighting, rising moons and
even rainbows. It was a wonderful group, with great enthusiasm and
interesting questions. They were especially excited about a shoot they had planned
for Saturday to capture the Christmas Lights on Nubble Lighthouse in York
Maine. I look forward to seeing their images, but it also gave me
the idea to go to the coast to capture the full moon rising over Nubble
Light. Sadly for the club, on Saturday evening, the skies were cloudy,
but I was hoping for better luck on Sunday.
I pulled out my
Photographer’s Ephemeris and found a spot on Long Beach, south of Nubble Light,
that would give me a good angle on the rising moon from about 1.7 miles away. I settled in on
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| View to Nubble Light, Photographer's Ephemeris |
the beach about 30 minutes before the 4:38pm
moonrise. Happily, the winds were calm and the temperature only in the
40s, but I was a bit concerned. Several years ago, I might have
been among very few on the beach to get the long view of the moonrise.
Most would have been clustered close to light, but, since the Ephemeris has
become popular, many serious photographers know exactly where to stand for the
best shot. The scary thing was that most of the other photographers on
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| Nubble's Lights |
the beach, about 30 of them, were gathered about 200 yards further south of my
preferred location. Was I in the wrong spot? I found some comfort
after being joined by two other mutinous photographers, both from the
Greater BostonNight Photographers. After double checking the Ephemeris, and also the
Photopils App, we remained convinced that we had it right. Still, we
mentally calculated how long it would take for us to sprint down the beach to
join the crowd
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| Moon's Last Flicker |
We had a nice
angle on the elaborate lighting on Nubble Lighthouse, but we also saw the
clouds behind the light. We waited for the time of moonrise and hoped
that there would be a magical break in the clouds to allow the spectacular moon
to break through, but this time my Super Moon luck ran out. There was a
brief and tauntingly beautiful glimpse of the fire red moon screened by the low
clouds. It was just enough to tell us that we were in the right spot to
see the moon skim over the lighthouse, and then it was swallowed by the
clouds. The moon only reappeared in all its “Super” glory much later and
high in the pitch-black evening sky.
Total failure?
Somehow, I convinced Susan to join me on this futile expedition. She was
concerned about letting me drive the 5-6 hours by myself, especially on the
long dark trip home. But was our trip a total failure. I believe
one of the greatest challenges for photographers is when we must make the most
out of bad conditions.
At the very least Sue and I had a long and largely uninterrupted time to talk. Something which is
quite rare these days. What to get the kids for Christmas, whether we
will escape from winter for a trip to New Orleans and most importantly, when
will we finally get a dog!
But I did have a bunch of camera equipment
with me, so I had to shoot whatever nature left for me to see.
A Sliver of Moon
 |
| Shrouded Rise |
First, we did see
a momentary sliver of moon as it first peaked above the horizon. It was
not yet in the perfect location over the lighthouse, and it was screened by
clouds. It only lasted about a minute, but I was able to capture just one
image that showed parts of the fire-red disk. When I zoomed in, the
reflected sunset light made the moon appear like sunrise, with the house and the
people on the rocks providing a nice sense of scale. And then it was
gone.
On Cape Neddick
By watching the moonrise from the beach, I knew that I would miss 
shooting the
lighthouse decorations while the island was still bathed in the beautiful twilight “Blue
Hour”, but I still wanted to shoot the lights. After we dealt with a dead
car battery on the shore road (thank you AAA), we headed up to the crowded
parking lot across from Nubble Island. I was surprised that, from behind
the clouds, the bright super moon created its own “Blue Hour” to soften the
harsh contrasts that might have been created by the bare holiday lights.
I grabbed a few shots with the clouds skittering across the moon. Then, in response to Susan’s good natured insistence, we headed back
toward home, with dinner on the way.
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The Wreaths of
South Street
On our way to the
shore we stopped for breakfast in Concord New Hampshire. Tuckers is a
popular place for Sunday brunch, but we had to wait 45 minutes for a
table. While we waited for our little LED device to ring us back to the
restaurant, we took a walk down South Street toward the center of town.
It was a great chance to focus on the variety of holiday door
decorations.
It was a great foretaste of the Christmas season as well as
one rotting reminder of the Halloween past. We timed the walk perfectly,
getting back just in time for a lovely breakfast, then it was on to the cloudy
coast.
An Old Friend and a New
Building
Of course, a trip
to the coast is never just about photography. On our way, we stopped in
Portsmouth to pick up some Christmas gifts.
After I had scouted my
location for the moonrise, we visited with
 |
| Michelle, Seacoastonline.com |
our dear friend Michele.
She is the Executive Director of the York Community Services Association and
just last weekend celebrated the grand opening of their wonderful new
facility. The non-profit association provides programs to assist low
income individuals and families living in York, and also runs a thrift shop and
food pantry to help feed people in need. Susan and I have loved knowing
Michele for years and her dynamic personality is a perfect fit for her
community service organization.
It was a long and
busy Sunday with some disappointment. Overall a good day with a reminder
that, in photography, if everything always went perfectly, it would not be
nearly as exciting when the magic happens.
Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com
603-363-8338
Of course, being in York, I had to make a
pilgrimage to the classic Nubble Lighthouse. Unfortunately, this year,
the lighthouse is being refurbished. Scaffolding has been migrating
around the structures contaminating the pristine appearance. For our
visit the mesh was around one of the outbuildings. I could have tried to
repair the damage in Photoshop, but, over the years, I have had many
opportunities to grab clean images of the light. This was a good time to
let the repairs happen while I enjoyed the clean salt air and communed with the
gulls.
Pomeranz Delivers at 1200mm
This
year, our Rye Weekend extended out for five lovely days. We didn’t get
home until late Wednesday, which is why I am late with this week’s blog.
Now I have a bunch of stuff on which to catch up and the work on the
studio is still inching along. Who knows
when I’ll get to my next article.
