I took a few shots of the lunar eclipse of January 31, 2018 and put them together as a flip-book. When photographing the eclipse, I had to adjust the camera position in between to still be able to capture the Moon and there were also way too many clouds… And I do prefer lunar eclipses in summer ❄, but I enjoyed photographing it anyways. Hope you’ll enjoy the flip-book, too.
At the dawn of day, the latest lunar eclipse slowly says good-bye. I am glad that after getting up rather early, the clouds allowed me at least a few shots! This one is my favorite so far. During the partial phase of the eclipse, morning gradually breaks and sets a blue background for the spectacle.
During a lunar eclipse, a full moon travels through the Earth’s shadow so that Earth blocks any direct sunlight from illuminating the Moon. As there is still enough refracted sunlight to dimly illuminate the Moon and as small molecules present in Earth’s atmosphere scattered this light, the Moon appears reddish to us. Which is why a lunar eclipse is also called a Blood Moon. While lunar eclipses can be enjoyed more often than solar eclipses at any individual point on Earth, they do not happen every full moon.
This particular lunar eclipse occurred during the second full moon of January 2018 and a second full moon in one month is called Blue Moon. A Blue Moon is rare and only occurs every two to three years. In 2018, there will be another Blue Moon in March, which only happens about three to five times a century.
And this full moon was also almost a Supermoon. As the Moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical, the Moon is sometimes closer to Earth and sometimes farther away. When it is closer to Earth, is seems bigger and brighter and is called a Supermoon. January’s first full moon was a Supermoon and this full moon still looked bigger than an average full moon.
“Some call me nature, others call me Mother Nature. … How you choose to live each day, whether you regard or disregard me, doesn’t really matter to me. One way or the other, your actions will determine your fate, not mine. I am nature. I will go on. I am prepared to evolve. Are you?”
—Julia Roberts, Nature is Speaking: Mother Nature, Conservation International
Too often these days smog obscures the beauty of the sky. Sometimes this smog comes from natural sources like erupting volcanos or natural forest fires. More often, though, smog is human-made, caused by emissions from industrial production, transportation, or burning of coal or wood.
I sincerely hope that looking at pictures of the sky on this website, seeing the multitude of colors and the beauty therein, will make you realize how precious the sky is. And that it is worth preserving, for us and for generations to come.
The International Photography Awards (IPA) just published its new annual book “IPA 2017 Book of Photography”. The book features the winning entries from the IPA 2017 photography competition as well as a directory listing of honorable mention entries.
As a bronze winner in a book category, Skies/Himmel is part of this collection of diverse work of the outstanding photographers who have participated in the IPA 2017 competition, showing work from across many genres and from all around the world. Looking at this wonderful IPA publication makes me again feel humbled and grateful that Skies/Himmel has been chosen a winner alongside such magnificent works of photography.
I think this is my favorite illustration by Lavinia for the Pink Little Cloud.
