Photographing the moon has become a kind of ritual for me. I have always loved the night sky, I find it both grounding and full of mystery; photographing it encourages me to get creative as I attempt to portray its essence in a photo.
My process starts with looking up, something I am prone to do anyway when I have a camera in my hand. Sometimes I sort of plan these moon captures, checking for moonrise times, moon phase, and the weather.
Other times, I stumble across it all unexpectedly, a sliver of light hanging above the trees—like last night when I stepped outside before bed to watch fireflies (what I grew up calling lightening bugs), or in winter, when the full moon is so bright and the sky so clear that it casts luminescent shadows across the fallen snow and my bedroom wall. I’ve gotten out of bed more than once to go outside in the cold and look.
In every instance, I’m grabbing my camera.
Throughout the year, and many years at that, I’ve photographed the moon in its different phases and in every season. In winter, the light is cool and milky, but the moon seems sharper, suspended in a pitch black, stark sky glowing with millions of tiny twinkling stars. Spring brings a little softer light, often framed by budding trees or drifting clouds. Summer moons, full and warm, rise later and set as the sun rises, making for some beautiful skies.
One of my favorite moon photos, Strawberry Moon, surrounded by pink tinged clouds, was taken near dawn in June 2020.
In autumn, I’m obsessed with capturing the big full harvest moons, orange and low on the horizon.
These moon photographs are less about technical perfection and more about capturing a sense of the experience, and the moon’s mystery—usually with a dose or two of artistry.
I love the calm that settles in when you stand beneath the moon and stars, a quiet reverence for all of life. Night skies have a certain magic to them, and that’s what I’m always seeking to reflect and create.
As the night sky shimmers above, I’m not just seeing—I’m taking in the stillness, the contrast of light and shadow, and the vastness and awesomeness of the heavens above. The experience of it all is what I love.
I hope these photographs, in their own quiet way, reflect the moon’s magnificence and wonder.