Moonstruck – Super Moon 2013

Quote of the day: “She tips back her head and howls: Moooooown! Oh wonderful moooooowwwwwyyyn!”
― Carol Emshwiller, Carmen Dog

Moonrise over Medicine Lake

Last night was the “Super Moon” of 2013, when the moon was at it’s perigee, the closest it gets to the earth. I headed over to a small park on Medicine Lake to make photos of the super moon last night and was not disappointed.

The twilight before moonrise was beautiful.

Twilight Beauty at Medicine Lake

I forget how lovely it is to go out and make photos just before and after sunset. The soft pink light just after sunset lights up the clouds in the sky and creates beautiful reflections in the lake. There were lots of people out enjoying the twilight hour.

Twilight fisherman at Medicine Lake

I arrived at the lake a little before 9:00 PM. Sunset was at 9:04 PM yesterday, moonrise at 9:12 PM.

As I waited for the moon to rise I remembered that I should have used mosquito repellant but didn’t want to go back to the car to get it. The mosquitoes were fierce! The scene was beautiful and I was enjoying myself making photos so I tried ignoring the mosquitoes and eventually resorted to swatting.

Just as we were beginning to wonder where the moon was, we saw a glow just over the treetops in the east. Very quickly the moon rose over the horizon big, bright, and gorgeous. It was briefly covered by a small bank of clouds but then rose above them to shine on. By then, it was fully dark and the mosquitoes had become unbearable. I left, hoping to return the next evening for more photos.

Here’s a link to a slideshow of photos of the super-moon from all over: Super Moon Slideshow.

Moonrise

Moonshine reflected in the lake

Full moon glory

Heading under a cloud

And back out

Like a painting