Finding My Way In The Dark

Blood Moon Total Eclipse - 2014.04.15 (9724)
Finding my way in the dark…

Such an appropriate metaphor for me right now.

This photo is a single long exposure of the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse on 2014.04.15.

To do this, I put my camera on the manual bulb setting, start the exposure, cover the lens, move the camera, take my hand off the lens, move the camera again…etc…I do it all in one shot, no adjustment editing allowed.

The game for me is to get it as even as possible exposure-wise and as even as possible moving across the frame. I have to keep the target in focus, too…all without being able to see what I’m doing through the viewfinder.

In other words, I’m finding my way in the dark.

Usually I have to move pretty quickly, too. And sometimes there are ‘extra special challenges’…In this case, the manual focus on my lens broke that day!

I’m not perfect; as you can see, the left-most instance of the moon isn’t as light as the rest. But I’m definitely getting better at doing this with moon photos.

I’m not perfect at this in my life either, but hopefully I’m getting better at finding my way in the dark there too, even when I have to move quickly, and even if there are extra special circumstances.

~ cj 2014.04.17

Here are a few other examples from that night of me playing around with the moon…

Blood Moon Total Eclipse - 2014.04.15 - Leaving a Trail

Leaving a Trail

Blood Moon Total Eclipse - 2014.04.15 - Olive the Moon

“Olive” the Moon

Blood Moon Total Eclipse - 2014.04.15 - Skipping Ahead

Skipping Ahead (time of shot is actually 3:20am, not 2:20am)

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10 Responses to Finding My Way In The Dark

  1. Kev says:

    just keep going to the light..
    Do not rush too fast..sometimes the light, is another damn train. they do not always have a whistle blowing to warn you…

  2. Absolutely stellar…love all your photos!

  3. Paul Carroll says:

    Cool…

    Just, cool.

  4. Steven says:

    Me likey. You never cease to amaze me. Love these shots. I wish I could do that. Cool stuff.

    • cjromb says:

      You CAN, Steve! You just need a camera and a willingness to stay up alllll night. Haha.

  5. Morine says:

    Yes to what your wise friends have said above. As much as I love your photos, I think I love your metaphor even more. Great stuff.

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