Shoot the Moon – Introduction

I’ve been capturing the arc of the moon in pinhole photos sporadically for a few years, but haven’t been very satisfied with the results. Moving to Roanoke Island has rekindled that interest. Watching the full moon rise over the Atlantic ocean or even Roanoke Sound has been exciting and inspiring for me. At first I would notice the full moon, load a camera, and take a photo overnight. Then maybe the next night, plan a little in advance. But lately I’ve become a little more systematic about it, and a little more diligent.

My goal is to document each full moon with my pinhole cameras, taking into consideration what is happening around me that month, and taking into consideration the American Indian names of months (as listed on the Farmers Almanac website ). American Indian names reflect their relationship to nature – harvest moon, snow moon, cold moon, etc. I’ll likely take personal liberties with the names, but will either use or be influenced by the American Indian names.

Catching Up the Blog – Recent Moons

Dying Grass Moon

I spent the evening of the October “Dying Grass” moon in a kayak, watching the sun set, then the moon rise 5 minutes later. This was an incredible visual experience that I documented elsewhere. I also took pinholes the nights before and after the Dying Grass moon, one of which I consider successful.

Harvest Moon

I now intend to keep a journal of these full moon captures as a way to document my progress (hopefully) and to help improve my techniques and perhaps gain some insight into why I bother. I take both black and white negatives as well as color. The images will be posted later than the journal entries, as the color are sent out for processing and I process the B/W as I have time. I will try to document the outings as they occur, and the images will follow later as the film is processed. I captured some images for the September Harvest moon, but made no notes on these. They were disappointing anyway. The one above was the best of these, but too dark.

If any of this interests you, I invite your comments to this series.