Graeme Skinner » Moon

Morning Magic

Graeme — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:45:27 +0000

I went down to the River Eden at Langwathby this morning to see how it looked in the moonlight. Mist was rising from the water and the Moon was silhouetted behind the trees on the river bank, the only sound I could hear was a few ducks muttering away on the far bank. Then the ducks stopped their chatter (which was probably the result of me making so much noise getting there), and the mist whipped up surrounding me. It was one of those moments where you feel like you’ve stepped from reality and into fantasy, if some wizard complete with pointy hat had popped up and said hello I don’t think I’d have blinked at that point (okay, I may well have screamed and sprinted back to the car but lets not get too picky). The moment was fleeting though as a truck rumbled over the temporary* bridge behind me pulling me kicking and screaming back to the real world. It was nice to know that fantasy was so close though

Anyway, I took a couple of photographs which is essentially what I went for

*I believe Langwathby Bridge is the longest standing temporary bridge in the Country, built in 1968 it’s not doing too bad

From the Moon to the Hills

Graeme — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:40:17 +0000

Returning home from work I paused for a moment after getting out of the car to take a quick photograph of the Moon hiding in cloud…

A few hours later the cloud pretty much cleared and I snapped a bit of snow on the Pennines.

Moon, Tree, Mist & Sunlight

Graeme — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:31:08 +0000

This morning started off with a couple of shots of the Moon, or perhaps I should say a photograph of the Moon behind the Oak tree and then one of the Moon itself

Then I went for a coffee and waited for the Sun…

Turning from the dawn

Graeme — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:17:40 +0000

I went out this morning with the intention of taking a few dawn sky photographs, as I do from time to time, and managed a few shots and, I was happier with the detail in this small panoramic though than the close up shots I took -

Having my camera in hand I decided to wander for a while and spotted a layer of mist forming by a small clump of trees -

After this I was about to return to the house when I noticed how nice the Moon looked riding high in the sky with some contrasting clouds for company -

I’m glad I wandered on a bit longer now

The Summoning

Graeme — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 09:13:52 +0000

Another digital piece (I’ll work with real paint soon) this one is of an old priest summoning his mob of crows for war.

Change of plan

Graeme — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:42 +0000

When I returned home this morning I thought I’d play with the camera taking photographs of the misty valley and the Moon above; as the morning wore on my plans changed slightly

At this point I thought it would be a good idea to go for a wander with the dog and the camera along the lane -

As I took this photograph I thought, wouldn’t it be good to take the Sun poking its head above the hills through the telescope rather than with the usual lenses, unfortunately I was not too close to the house and telescope at this point and the Sun was threatening to appear at any moment. So, a quick dash back to the house, set the telescope up and I’d just beat the Sun

I quite liked the last one as there are a few small sunspots on view, next time I’ll plan in advance and get the scope set up and focused properly.

Now for the obligatory warning – If you own a telescope* or have access to one please don’t just look straight at the Sun through it as you’ll go blind, which may put a crimp in your day really.

*this really applies to all optical devices such as binoculars, camera lenses….

The best laid plans…

Graeme — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:50:06 +0000

This morning I had a few things planned so I decided against taking the camera out of the bag until everything was sorted. As with all good plans this lasted around 5 minutes then I noticed the Moon starting to drop behind the trees and the mist rising from the fields.

I then looked behind me to see the mist thinning slightly as the sky brightened.

After taking these it felt wrong to go inside before the Sun poked its head over the Pennines

Ullswater before dawn

Graeme — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:13:58 +0000

This morning I noticed the Moon looked nice over the fells so I took the camera and tripod down to Ullswater. It was getting fairly low when I reached the lake but I managed a few shots before it vanished.

This isn’t the SuperMoon

Graeme — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:43:58 +0000

Nor is it the megaMoon, it certainly can’t be referred to as the amazinglysplendoroussparklyMoon. It’s just the Moon, yes it may be a little closer at the moment but you’re not suddenly going to be blinded by looking at it, and it’s certainly not going to start boiling all the fluids in your brain Having said that, the Moon is super, but then it always is to me
I decided this morning to take a few early morning photographs of the Moon as it hovered above Blencathra and slowly sank behind it.

This is the Moon nearly fully behind Blencathra, I quite liked the effect I also too a few photographs and put them together into an animated gif -

The final two images give more of a Sunset effect than a Moonset -

>Insert interesting title here

Graeme — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:08:54 +0000

Okay, no need for an interesting title, or much need for an introduction other than here are two photographs from today. The first is a misty bit of woodland from this mornings wander…

And then the Moon over the Pennines this evening…