On both the night of the full moon (13th), and the next night, the moon has risen into a perfectly clear sky. So, I decided to return to Coquina Beach with hopes of capturing the moon rising over the Atlantic ocean without cloud or haze obstructions.
I arrived just before the moonrise, and it was another fairly warm evening, with only a gentle breeze. A strong wind can move the camera around, so that was good. Right on schedule, the moon rose over the ocean, an orange sliver at first. There were clouds higher up, closer to land. But the clouds were rather thin. I’m hoping for a glow around the moon in this part of the image.
The next morning when I returned to collect the cameras, there was someone on the beach, at the same spot. It turned out to be another photographer named Al Willet. We talked a bit, but he was busy setting up a 4×5 field camera to catch the sunrise. A nice guy though, and it was nice sharing the twilight with someone else. I told him what I was up to, but he didn’t seem much interested. People usually find the pinhole camera curious, but then I don’t usually run into photographers when I’m out capturing images.
The sky did have some clouds this morning, which made for a dramatic sunrise. But I closed down my cameras before that moment. My target end of exposure seems to be around 5 minutes after civil twilight, or 20 minutes before sunrise.
Hungar Moon at Coquina Beach
Hunger Moon at Coquina Beach, moonrise/sunrise
Timeline
February 15, 2006:
5:44 p.m. – sunset
8:07 p.m. – start exposure
8:09 p.m. – moonrise
February 16, 2006:
6:23 a.m. – civil twilight
6:28 a.m. – end exposure
6:49 a.m. – sunrise
Phase of the Moon on 15 February: waning gibbous with 94% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated.
Moonrise direction: approximately 110° ESE.