Last year I joined the year long Scene & Story and liked how by the end of the month I looked through all my photos that I took during those 28 to 31 days before and finding my favorite one, or the one that spoke to me the most. Sometimes I already knew "the photo" when I took it, but that didn't happen very often. It was interesting to see how I could still find a favorite photo in difficult months like October when I pretty much didn't take any photos because we were busy making it somehow through the month without losing our minds; it was equally interesting to realize that in a month when I took all my autumn pictures it was a completely different photo that made the cut in the end.
This year is not even two months old and I miss Scene & Story. But why not going on with my own twist of Scene & Story? Why not pick a photo of the month - and it doesn't have to be a favorite one - and tell the story behind it?
When I looked through my January photos I was convinced that I would choose a picture taken in Hawai'i. I should know by now that it seldom works out this way. It was a photo I took in the early morning of the last day of the month, and it's not even a particularly good one, but a rather blurry image of the eclipsed Super Blue Blood Moon.
The very first time I had seen a lunar eclipse was back in Germany. I was living on the top of a hill in Tübingen at that time and I just had to walk to the other side of the hill to see the entire valley before me with the red moon hanging over it. It was one of those unforgettable moments, and though I have seen a few more lunar eclipses since then none was as beautiful as that first one.
Until a couple weeks ago.
The Geek and I had our alarm clocks set for 4:30 in the morning. Thankfully we didn't have to go anywhere but just stepped out in the backyard. From there we could watch the natural show, and it was incredible beautiful. Often mornings are foggy here when the ocean sends over the clouds, but this morning was clear (and chilly for Californian standards) and crisp. I didn't take a lot of pictures, just a few and wasn't impressed with them. I put the tripod with the camera to the side and just enjoyed the silent spectacle in the sky.
The big difference to a solar eclipse is that a lunar eclipse takes so much longer. You can really enjoy it and have enough time to take it all in.
When I looked at my photos later that morning I was surprised that there were even some stars visible in the images. The moon might be a bit blurry, but having the stars balances it all out.
