Sept 27 Super-Harvest-Blood-Moon

I love looking at the moon and this was a Once In A Lifetime Event - a lunar eclipse the same night as the Harvest Moon; a super-moon because of its closeness to the earth. AKA Blood Moon because of the eclipse. A perfect Moonage Daydeam (if you're a 70s alumni, you'll get that).

I consulted my mobile app "The Photographer's Ephemeris" for the moonrise time & location. This is a really handy tool, by the way.  http://photoephemeris.com/

The night before we scouted out possible location shoots. I spent a couple hours researching advice for the best camera settings and prepping the camera. These aren't pro-quality, but not bad for the size lens I had (and my amateur skills).

 I wanted a building or something in the foreground for perspective and picture interest.

For my purposes, a good spot was the church a mile from here.

I got one good shot with the steeple in the picture, but the best moon-shots were without the building.

The moon actually looks more red in photographs. To the naked eye, it was lighter than this. These pix are not edited except for cropping.

A friend brought her lawn chair & joined us. It was fun sitting outside, watching this together, almost like sitting under the summer sky watching the holiday fireworks.

After we went home, I went out on the patio & shot the rest of the eclipse action.

 Almost over...

 And here we are, back to normal.

The next morning, that same bright, full moon was setting in the western sky. I didn't get the tripod out, but took a picture anyway.

So that's it - Blood Moon #4, September 27, 2015. So glad the weather was nice, the sky was clear and I got to see the whole thing this time. And so thankful for a patient hubby, who indulges my escapades of chasing the sunset or moon.