Maybe The Best Phone Picture I've Taken...Of The Moon

 I've commented several times on this blog about how there are some things I cannot photograph that turn out as good as what my eyes see. The moon is one of those things. I've got a nice DSLR camera and a lens that brings the moon to show up nicely in the frame. But, when I click the shutter, the finished product fails to impress.

Bummer.

I can't seem to capture the shadows on the moon, the craters, the Sea of Tranquility. I'm sure if I did a little research on how to photograph the moon, and more importantly, spent a ton of money on photographic gadgets, I could do it. I'm sure I could, but I haven't, so my moon photos don't look that good.

Last night, the skies above our valley were stunning. As the sun set, I spent a lot of time trying to capture what I was seeing. I also noticed the waxing moon in the southern sky so I snapped a picture. In the photo I can see craters and a texture to the moon. I call that a success.

My phone is a few years old, and I'm sure it's going to be with me for a few years more. The camera was almost state-of-the-art when my phone was new. It's nowhere near that, now. Would I love a newer phone with better cameras? Sure. Do I need one? Nope.

It was fun to go through my photos from last night and notice the photo I took of the moon. And even though it's not great, I'm pretty sure it's the best one I've ever taken...

Of the moon...

By phone.

Last Night's Sky...

I stepped out on to our back porch last night and looked up. It was beautiful. White cotton clouds filled a darkening sky. I had to try and capture what I saw. Of course, these photos can't do it justice--they rarely can.

The experience reminded me of the way I felt in September, 2001. Back then, we faced an unsure future, too. Different circumstances, but unease, worry, stress, the lack of stability--all accompanied the terrible events. The past week I've blogged about life in the new world and how we're reacting to news of a virus, something so small we cannot see it, only its effects. I wanted tonight to write about something else so when I saw a couple of pictures I took last night, I thought I'd share.

But, my mind circled back on the virus. It's hard to escape its influence.

There is one difference between last night's sky and a sky after 9/11/01. If you look closely, in the bottom picture you can see something you would not have seen back then. Almost directly in the center of the picture is a small contrail from an airplane, several thousand feet in the air. Back then, only military planes were allowed to fly. Now, planes are still flying, at least, for now.

But I'll bet, back in the last quarter of 2001, there were some beautiful skies, too.