“Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” – Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
Today Friday July 31 we celebrate a Blue Moon. Last night I discovered online that there are two types of Blue Moon: seasonal (a definition used by the Farmers Almanac) and calendar month (the more popularly accepted view). Interesting facts about these two definitions are available at the following link written in 2010 by astronomer Bruce McClure, including when the next Blue Moons will occur through 2029:
http://www.idialstars.com/mcsbm.htm
My fascination with moon photography goes back a number of years, over which I’ve taken many photos of the moon, particularly at its fullness. Most of those
attempts were pretty mediocre, unlike the extraordinary photo above of the moonrise over tree line. Much as I’d love to claim that as one of my own, I can’t; unfortunately I don’t remember whose photo it is to give proper credit. Nevertheless its brilliance has provided inspiration, so
I’ve worked at getting better photographs. For instance, the photos included here of the moon seen through a scrim of clouds, that I managed to photograph Wednesday night. Thanks to the acquisition a few years ago of a Nikon Coolpix L100 with a 15X wide-angle optical-
zoom, I was able to capture these shots, as well as getting in close enough to reveal that amazing moonscape texture, as in the close-ups below which are some of my personal favorites, including one of a crescent moon that shows the whole sphere in ghostly shadow.
Below, the lyrics to the classic Blue Moon written in 1934 by Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) set to music by Richard Rogers (1902-1979):
“Blue moon you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper “Please adore me”
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold!
Blue moon!
Now I’m no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own”
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