Full Moon Failure

The full moons of the last two months have fallen on days when I didn't have to go to work early the next morning (most days I have to be in at 6AM). I enjoy photography and have long wanted to go somewhere and take pictures of the full moon as it rose over the horizon.

Last month, on the day of the full moon, it was overcast and cloudy. It started to break up a little bit as it drew closer to time for the moon to come out. So I decided to drive west, through Boulder Canyon to see if I couldn't find a nice vantage point to watch the moonrise. Naturally, the clouds didn't break and I didn't get to see the moonrise, but it was a pleasantly cool evening and the drive through the mountains was nice. As soon as I got home, the moon peaked out from behind the clouds.

Again, this month on the day of the full moon, the skies were cloudy to the east where the moon would rise. I drove east this time, hoping the clouds would break up, but again, no such luck. This time I did find a pretty place to watch the sun set at least.

So, after back to back months of disappointment on watching the full moon rise, I decided to at least try and get out of the city lights on Tuesday night to watch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. At the last minute, I decided to bring my camera along. I knew I wouldn't be able to photograph the meteor shower (not a good enough camera), but I wasn't disappointed. I did get to take pictures of the moonrise.

It wasn't quite the full moon I had envisioned, but it was pretty close and...well, pretty. This time I was near the Boulder Reservoir. I saw the first bit of the moon peaking it's head over the horizon and while I set up my tripod, the moon rose all the way up over the horizon. I still managed to get lots of pictures, including some when it looked more yellow or orange. And after watching the moonrise, I did see several meteors, so all in all, it was a good night.

While I have failed in my two attempts to get pictures of the full moon rising, I haven't given up. Maybe next month I'll have better luck. At least now I know of a decent spot to see the moonrise without all the obstructions of houses and such on the horizon (trees are okay in my book). The drawback was that despite all my precautions (long pants/jacket/bug spray) I was eaten alive by mosquitoes! Seriously, I've counted more than 20 different mosquito bites over my body. My luck now is that I'll get West Nile Virus. *knocks on wood* In the meantime, I'm trying not to scratch the heck out of myself.