Last week was Super Harvest Moon. Yep, not just a Harvest Moon. It was the third ‘super’ full moon in a row and it was the biggest one of the year. So I went to a classic location to capture this event: Marin Headlands. There was a fog bank hanging over the east bay hills, but soon enough, the moon emerged from behind it.
The big moon was only visible for about 10 minutes until it disappeared by low hanging clouds. So much for this Super Harvest Moon!
However, a bit later that evening, the real spectacle started. The moon was hidden behind a bank of clouds but its light was still visible. I really like this band of light shinning onto the bay.
The light was fading away quickly which required longer exposure times. This created the patterns in the water with the reflected light of the moon. This image is one of my favorites of that day.
With the clouds moving, the scenery changed regularly. At one point, the moon reappeared for a few moments. What a coincidence that while taking this photograph, a plane flew between the two towers of the Bay Bridge which are illuminated by The Bay Lights project. It almost looks like there is a string of lights between the two towers.
Before calling it a night, I had to take yet another shot of the entire Golden Gate Bridge. It is not the first time I captured this scene and it will be not the last time either. I really liked how the light played with the clouds. They were backlit by the moon and at the same time reflected the light from the bridge.
There is one more image I would like to share with you. For a long time I wanted to capture the full moon on top of one of San Francisco’s most iconic buildings, the Transamerica Pyramid. Apart of finding the perfect location, the other challenge is balancing the moon’s light versus the fading sunlight. I shot this image one day before the full moon so that when the moon aligned with the top of the pyramid, that there would still be enough ambient light on the building and the sky. Although it looks like a full moon, since it was taken a day earlier it was technically only 98.1% full.
Prints and Licensing: All images are available as fine art prints and for licensing. Please contact me for more details.
As usual Daniel your photos are stunning. I also love the last 3 the best but they are all so SO good. The moon shining on the water was beautiful but the backlit clouds was my favorite. So glad you got the super moon. You did it justice. Thanks for sharing. 😉
Thank you for commenting, Becky! I had a great time waiting for the moon and in the end seeing it disappear in the clouds.
just fantastic! The last 3 are just knock outs!!!
Thank you, Lisa! Soon I gonna print “Golden Gate Bridge with backlight clouds”. I am looking forward to see it hanging on the wall.