Super Moon Photos by Ric Rosow

Submitted by Mill District resident Ric Rosow 

May 26th was the 2nd and final Super Moon for 2021. I attempted a similar shot for the Super Full Moon in April up in Grand Marais. I consulted with Dr. Mike Shaw (https://www.mikeshawphotography.com/cvbio), an award winning astrophotographer, author, speaker, and teacher on finding just the right location in Grand Marais where the moon would rise up over the lighthouse. Clouds in Grand Marais prevented me from photographing the Super Moon in April on the day it was full. I did capture a nearly full moon early in the morning two days later. My wife was awakened at 3:30 a.m. by the light from the moon shining into our hotel room. She woke me from a deep sleep and I spent the next several hours photographing the moon in several locations. This was a waning gibbous moon The moon over a downtown building turned out to be the best and closest to what I had hoped for. By the time I reached that location, some clouds had moved in, giving the moon a soft and pink hue.

Waning Gibbous Moon Over Grand Marais - April 28, 2021

But in the early morning of May 26th the skies were totally clear of clouds. I planned the shot ahead of time using photo planning tools “PlanIt Pro” and “Photo Pills.” To become more familiar with PlanIt Pro I took a live webinar tutorial on using the app from Mike. I’ve taken a number of live in the field photo workshops from him as well, as online webinars and several one-on-one online tutoring sessions. With Mike’s assistance I was able to confirm that the location I picked out would indeed lend itself to the type of moon photograph I wanted.

Above and below - Super Full Moon next to the North Star Blankets sign, May 26, 2021

For this photo shoot I left home around 12:45 a.m. with my wife and set up my tripod and camera at the location I had picked out on the Stone Arch Bridge. You might think that at that time of night I would be alone. That was not the case. There were people sitting at the park benches as I approached the bridge and then a fairly constant stream of people walking both directions on the bridge. I greeted most of them in between taking photos. One group of young women suggested I take a photograph of the colorful 35W Bridge. When I described what I was setting up to take they thought that was neat. Since a full moon is so bright and the sky so dark at that time of night, you don’t see the buildings in a photograph exposed to capture detail in the moon. Mike had warned me that I would get only the bright moon against a black sky and no foreground detail. Mike is from St. Paul. He may not have known that the North Star sign is illuminated at night. So I got the moon and the illuminated sign. It turned out as well as I could have expected.

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You can see more of my work at www.ricrosowphotography.com.